The incidence of Bank Verification Number theft is now very rampant in our society. And something that is meant to help check identity fraud has turned to a potent instrument that ‘agents of the underworld’ could use to clear out the funds in an individual’s account. Time and again, we have heard reports of how people end up losing the money in their account right after losing possession of their mobile phones. Long before now, the loss of a mobile phone may not be something to fret about but now [with one’s BVNvbound number in the misplaced phone], there’s a lot to be concerned about. You surely cannot afford to keep calm if your phone’s apps are not locked prior to losing your device.
Notwithstanding, I feel there’s got to be well-thought plan to help ‘undiscerning’ individuals better secure their BVN, and that goes beyond just advising them to desist from disclosing the code to a third party. This is particularly necessary bearing in mind that the miscreants who specialize in stealing people’s phones usually catch them unawares.
Preventing BVN theft
In preventing BVN theft, the first line of action is to keep secret things ‘secret’; do not disclose it to a third party; keep your BVN-bound SIM safe from any suspicious individual and avoid writing or storing your BVN on a sheet of paper. But having done all these, you may still fall victim upon losing your phone, and this is why I feel the following steps need to be taken:
Creating a password for checking BVN
Dialling 5650# and having your BVN displayed on the screen of your smartphone is quite ‘loose’ and/or insecure in my own perspective. It makes things rather too easy for the BVN thieves who eventually enlist the help of some devious bankers to make available other relevant information about a customer’s account. It is to this end that I believe having to input one’s password before being able to access the Bank Verification Number can help in a great way to stop fraudulent individuals from having possession of one’s BVN. This is a very simple solution that the regulators need to bring into effect without delay.
Deactivating your phone number
Another way of securing your BVN as well as other information is to deactivate your phone number by contacting your mobile service provider as quick as you can after you must have lost it. This must be done on time considering the fact that it takes the fraudsters nothing – after getting hold of your device to extract your details.
Secure your apps
You can give the thieves some hard time gaining hold of your password by setting a password on your apps. With this, they will not be able to easily dial the code that would reveal the BVN. You can also find apps like AppLock, Privacy Knight, Lockit etc. really useful in this regard. It however needs to be said that this should not always be seen as a fool-proof solution as these crooked guys could find a way to bypass the system.
Contact your bank
The primary reason why you are securing BVN is to prevent the loss of your hard-earned cash. So, it is expedient that you inform your bank about the loss of your BVN-bound number/SIM as soon as possible. Contacting them will ensure that whatever transactions initiated are well monitored and this could subsequently lead to the arrest of the perpetrators. Again, this would prevent the 'ravenous wolves' from carting away your fund.
In concluding, I will like to stress the need for regulators to see to the very first step – about enabling the use of password to check BVN.
This, I believe, is the ultimate solution to prevent BVN theft but before the implementation of such, you can consider the other points and ensure that you do not fall into the web of the purloiner of BVN.