‘I’m Financially Down, Opay Doesn’t Care’- POS Operator Who Almost Lost N893,000 To Scammers Lament

Almost every busy location in major cities in Nigeria has a cluster of Point of Sale vendors scouting for customers. The operators of this system have changed how customers visit banks and ATMs for financial transactions.

The POS market in Nigeria recorded N6.43trn transaction in full year 2021 and more people are venturing into the business. But the risk for operators- existing and new entrants is the growing threat of hackers and fraudsters.

Musa Bamaiyi  is one the Abuja based POS vendors who have fallen victim to fraudsters after two years of using payment platform, Opay, for his business.

The vendor who operates in Gwarinpa narrated how the fraudsters tried to withdraw N893,021 from his Opay account in several  attempts. They also tried purchasing over N20,000 airtime from the account.

But the fraud attempts on the account started after an alleged  customer service representative of Opay called the POS operator.

Bamaiyi told THE WHISTLER that “On 25th of July, a customer care representative called me and the number was identified by Truecaller as Opay-. I spoke with the Opay customer service. The person asked me to review the service and I felt comfortable and advised them to improve on the security of their services. The following week, I called Opay customer service Lagos. I have been using Opay for over two years. I explained my challenges to the. After the call, I could withdraw but couldn’t check my balance. But I didn’t share my details with the agent. 

“After then, I discovered that there was a N200,000 transaction on the account to Zenith Bank with the name Halilu Hudu. Another attempt was N100,000. I have never allowed anyone to handle my business. I have been the person handling my account. It was strange to me. then, my balance was N240,000. So, I quickly moved the money to my personal account and left just N40,000.”

Bamaiyi said he has never disclosed his Opay details to anyone including the Opay agent who “did not ask for any of his details” with the payment platform.

He continued, “I called the customer care office and they told me that it was a fraud attempt. They asked me to change my password but I didn’t change my transfer password. There was no further attempt that day. The next day, around 12.pm my account was not tampered with. After a customer withdrew N80,000, my balance went to N140,000. When I tried to do another transaction,  I discovered that the account, Halilu Hudu had attempted to withdraw N50,000 and later succeeded in withdrawing N20,000.

“I moved out the money in my account and contacted Opay, they asked me to change my details. I changed my login details and my transfer password. After that, I withdrew another N80,000, but the hackers did not make any further attempts for some hours . I felt my account was secured. After some hours, I checked my balance and there was a transaction of N20,00, withdrawn through a Pamlpay account, Nkechi Josephine Godwin. There was another withdrawal sent to an account name, Sani Garba, Palm and another was sent to oneKamalu Musa.”

When they started the attempt, “the scam was not easy to pull off” as it was a little difficult for the fraudsters to access Bamaiyi’s account using any of the commercial bank accounts. 

The best option at their disposal was using Palmpay, an e-payment app to transfer about N127,000 from their victim’s account.

He narrated, “Before I knew it, they withdrew N127,000 from my account. They discovered it was easier for them to use Palmpay to steal the money. I called customer care representative to block my account and they told me that they will begin an investigation and refund my funds if it was a fraud. 

“Even after Opay blocked the account, the fraudsters continued making attempts.  They tried withdrawing N100,000 this time using an FCMB account. It was frozen, so they could not have access.”

The POS operator said he has not been able to recover the N127,000 stolen from his account since the fraud took place in July.

He accused Opay of “negligence” adding that many attempts to get feedback on the outcome of the investigation on his account have failed.

Bamaiyi said, “I have been in contact with Opay for them to unblock my account and they directed me to mail their anti-fraud department. Opay, till date have not given me feedback on the outcome of the investigation. I have made calls, sent messages and mails. But there has been no result. 

“They asked me to return their POS machine because I stopped using it for like five days. I have returned their machine. Some of my friends who use Opay have also lost their money to the same set of accounts run by the hackers too and they were unable to recover their money.

“I’m financially down. I will follow up those accounts legally, because I have lost hope in Opay.”

Attempts to get comments from Opay proved abortive as email sent to the company on Friday had yet to be responded to as of 2:32pm on Monday when this story was published.