Fraud: Customers Shun PoS, Return To Banks’ ATM, Other Channels
LAGOS JUNE 15TH (NEWSRANGERS)-The usual high patronage of Point of Sale (PoS) services in the country is in reverse trend as bank customers now resort to Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and other channels like online banking, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), among others.
In the heat of COVID-19, last year, banks and other financial companies were restricted in receiving customers as a way to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
The development triggered the proliferation of PoS service operations in the country for easy access to cash. Despite the charges for the services, which were more than those of banks’ ATM services, many Nigerians thronged the PoS service centres for their transactions.
However, in recent times, there have been reports of fraudulent activities being orchestrated by scammers who fleece unsuspecting customers of their cash through deceptive methods through PoS.
The unsavory #EndSARS campaign which caused havoc to some banks’ ATMs with cash looted, boosted PoS service patronage by most Nigerians.
A recent report revealed how some PoS operators and even those who pretend to be customers waiting for transactions would feign making phone calls while distracting genuine customers’ attention to take pictures of their ATM cards’ details.
Speaking with Daily Independent, Hassan Adekoya, a PoS operator, disclosed that there is low patronage of PoS services by customers. He said the cause is partly linked to relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
“The business is not profitable as before. I discovered that many of my customers now use banks’ ATMs which were not very functional before, especially last year when the pandemic was still scary. I am bothered because I am not making the type of profit I used to make. The consolation I have is that I have other items I sell along the PoS business and I didn’t employ anybody that I am paying salary,” he explained.
Investigations by Daily Independent revealed that some PoS operators are already closing shops because of low patronage. The development is becoming a replica of what phone call business centres used to be at the early stage of Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications in Nigeria.
To attest to the apathy some people are now having toward PoS service, the month of May, 2021, recorded a transaction decline of 0.8 percent.
The recorded drop is for second consecutive month. Month-on-month (MoM), it fell to N503.96 billion in May from N507.9 billion in April.
The latest data from Nigeria Interbank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) shows the value of transactions through PoS terminals declined marginally by 0.76 percent (N3.9 billion) in May.
Daily Independent
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