The telecommunication’s regulator in Africa’s fastest growing ICT industry is worried abiut the impact of cyber-crime in the country.
The regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) however said it has intensified its onslaught against the threat posed by cybercriminals across the country.
Some of its strategies, which include the composition of the Industry Group (IWG) were disclosed at second Workshop of IWG on electronic banking fraud held at the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) Kano, North West, Nigeria.
Delivery a paper titled: Electronic Banking Fraud in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward”, a Deputy Director at the NCC, Engr. Bako Wakil, said it became necessary to intensify the campaign after the visit of the Deputy Governor of the CBN to NCC’s management to discuss the prevalence of banking fraud using telecoms infrastructure.
He disclosed that the Commission became more worried after petitions by deposit money banks to the apex bank about the sophistication of the methods employed by cyber criminals via telecoms infrastructure in defrauding unsuspecting customers.
He recalled that on assumption of office, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta reeled out his eight-point agenda for the industry, of which facilitating strategic collaboration and partnership with relevant stakeholders to foster ICT for sustainable economic development and social advancement became a priority for the commission.
Wakil further said that the IWG members which were draw from stakeholders from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Civil Society Organisations (CSO) as well as Value Added Service (VAS) providers which was constituted early in the year.
According to him, the terms of reference for the committee was to look at the technicality and security of mobile banking; awareness issues in mobile banking; SIM card replacement processes; SIM card cloning as well as unsolicited text messages.
The sub-committee which was set-up acknowledged that banking fraud is a growing national problem which fleeces innocent Nigerians of their earnings daily and came up with 21 recommendations categorised into short-term, mid-term and long term, with the aim of checkmating this growing threat to Nigerians.
Also speaking at the event, Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, Engr. Ubale Maska lamented the staggering level of fraud in the industry adding that the worksho was an opportunity to brainstorm ways to wage the war cyber-crime in Nigeria.
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