A new report by Kaspersky has shown that 61percent of Nigerian face phishing scams when leveraging digital platforms for payment purposes, especially online banking or mobile wallet services. The breakdown indicates that 67percent have personally encountered fake websites, and a staggering 82percent experienced scams (via texts or calls) using social engineering.
According to the report, many Nigerians are aware of threats of digital payment methods, with the majority of respondents from Nigeria reporting that they are aware of both financial phishing attacks (95percent) and online scams (97percent). 78percent also stated that they are informed about banking malware on PCs and on mobile.
Commenting, Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa, said: “Whether we talk about the proliferation of phishing scams or mobile malware, it is important to establish some basic cybersecurity standards. Advanced security solutions, which are able to filter out most of the generic attack vectors, supplemented with other preventive measures such as good cybersecurity awareness and regular password changes, can help to keep your financial transactions secure.”
However, 98percent think that banks and payment companies should educate users more about the threats online. When it comes to a list of security features that consumers would like to see more on existing banking apps and mobile wallets, according to the survey results, here’s what matters most to them:
- The implementation of one-time-passwords (OTPs) via SMS for every transaction (76percent)
- Biometric security features like facial or fingerprint recognition (75percent)
- Requiring two-factor authentication (64percent)
- Automated detection and intervention for fraudulent transactions (39percent)
- Point-to-point encryption (22percent)