Following complaints by Nigerians on social media claiming to have discovered unknown accounts with digital payment platform, OPay, without their knowledge and consent, the platform has come out to explain its position on the account anomalies, denying that it engaged in any underhand dealing.
The FinTech firm explained its position on the heels of social media buzz on the development that customer account information of some active accounts/wallets on the OPay app were allegedly created without the knowledge and consent of mobile number owners as their account numbers.
Recall that social media platform X was awashed with complaints by Nigerians, who claimed that their names and phone numbers were used to open Opay accounts without them actually opening any account with the FinTech company.
However, it was not yet clear how individuals who had not previously related with OPay to register an account ended up seeing their numbers as OPay accounts with their full identities.
But, head of Marketing, Opay Digital Services Limited, Adekunle Adeyemi, acknowledged that the FinTech company got information that there were active accounts/wallets on their OPay app, which the owners alleged had been created without their knowledge and/or consent.
He said, “We had immediately commenced an investigation to determine the authenticity of these claims as all OPay wallets are adequately registered in line with regulatory requirements.”
He added that based on their investigation, they discovered that the accounts in question were indeed opened by the owners at different times, but generally between 2019/2020.
“When contacted by our team, some of the individuals have, however, claimed not to remember whether/when they opened the account. At least four of the complaints received via social media have been checked, and all four of them have been contacted to resolve the concerns raised,” he added.
Continuing, Adeyemi posited that it was imperative to note that some of the accounts had no balance in them since they were opened.
“As a law-abiding, strictly regulated entity, we have unquivocally inquired of these individuals if they would like to retain the accounts, and we obliged based on their responses,” he stated.
This is just as he stressed that OPay wallet can only be opened through the CBN-established registration process which requires the input of an OTP authentication (one-time password) and ID authentication from the user’s phone to proceed.
“It is also important to note that OPay has never created (nor does it operate) any account on behalf of any individual.
“On a final note, we would like to encourage any individual with similar concerns to contact us via any of our official channels, and the issues will be resolved promptly. As a brand, we place utmost priority on our customers’ needs and pride ourselves as a regulatory-compliant organisation,” Adeyemi added.
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