The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has highlighted three major ways people’s Bank Verification Number (BVN) can be used to defraud them. This was disclosed by Aminu Yusuf, Head of Economic Governance of the Sokoto zonal command of the commission, during the EFCC connect on Wednesday. Yusuf disclosed that there are three ways BVN can be easily accessible and stolen. According to him, they are loss of phone, fraudulent links, and when one unknowingly releases his/her BVN details to another person.
He said statistics have shown that most people store their BVN on their phones and then since BVN is an eleven-digit number, it is easily recognisable. “And then there is a code that you can type in all our telecoms that you can access all BVNs. “Most people know those codes. So if you lost your phone, the fraudsters know those codes and the first thing they do is to access that BVN. They look at the BVN and use it for their fraudulent purposes,” the EFCC official said. Speaking further, Yusuf stated that another way to defraud a person with BVN could be through fraudulent links.
According to him, one may be online and suddenly receive a text or email asking him/her to send his BVN for a bank update. He explained that such links are fake and no bank will send such fraudulent links to customers. Speaking on the third way a person could be defrauded, Yusuf explained that it is when one unknowingly makes their phone vulnerable. “Some people take their phone to charge. In Nigeria there are a lot of problems with light here and there, so your phone might be in somebody’s possession you wouldn’t know and then he can access it. “The statistics have shown that these are the three major ways you can lose your BVN to fraudsters,” the officer said.
