PrepayGo Technologies has partnered SIBS International to introduce the SIBS virtual card solution that will help combat ‘Card Not Present Fraud’ in Nigeria.
Owing to the importance of the solution in addressing online financial fraud faced by financial institutions globally, the Central Bank of Nigeria has given both companies a letter of no objection to implement the solution in banks across the country.
The ‘Card Not Present Fraud’ is a global phenomenon in the cyberspace, where online hackers use details obtained from credit and debit cards, otherwise known as ATM cards, to defraud card owners, without having physical contact with the card.
The practice has been ongoing and many financial institutions, especially banks, have suffered huge financial losses through the unauthorised process.
The situation has raised security concerns with online payments, accounting for 56 per cent of the total value of card fraud. Consequently, banks are consistently searching for secure payments services for card holders who would like to use their credit or debit cards to purchase on the internet.
Introducing the virtual card solution at a media launch in Lagos last week, representative of SIBS International, Portugal, Mr. Manuel Mendonca said the Virtual Proxy Cards is already widely used in other parts of the world. “This service is called ‘Virtual Proxy Card’ and it is designed to protect credit and debit cards users while conducting Card Not Present (CPN) online payment transactions on e-commerce sites globally.”
Director at PrepayGo Technologies, Mr. Adeyinka Adeyemi said the Virtual Proxy Card is secure because it avoids real card data exposure in the internet, and the payment process is easily and quickly done and it is universal, which allows payments with debit or credit card in any merchant, domestic or international that accepts MasterCard, Visa Card.
“The Virtual Proxy Card service is available for all real cards that work with all International Payment System (Mastercard, Visa). Subscription of the Virtual Proxy Card can be done on ATM, internet banking or other banking channels,” Adeyemi said.
According to him, account holders who do not have credit or debit cards can also subscribe to the Virtual Proxy Card service to make online purchase on the internet.
With the virtual card consumers can now operate a proxy card tied to their credit or debit card for specific online transactions each time they want to conduct an online payment transaction on any Visa, MasterCard or America Express card worldwide.
The virtual card also adds another layer of protection from online fraud which is the key value proposition for adoption and usage of cards.
Explaining how the solution works, one of the Directors at PrepayGo Technologies, Mr. Peter Iwegbu said the solution acts as a protection to the physical credit card, such that each time the customer wants to make any transaction, he generates virtual card, which will be automatically issued online by the bank and the customer will indicate the specific amount he needed for the transaction.
According to him, as soon as the transaction is done, the virtual card becomes invalid for subsequent use, because it is a single use card with 30 days validity. “What this means is that the details of the card are always protected within the bank and only the virtual card is released for every transaction such that should hackers get the details of the virtual card, they can never transact business with it, since the card can only be used only once, before rendered invalid“, he said
Adeyemi confirmed that banks are already interested in the solution, since it would not only protect customer’ finances, but would also protect the bank from any form of online hacking.
