Reps frown at POS fraudulent transactions

By Christiana Ekpa 

The House of Representatives,  Thursday, frowned at the

 spate of fraudulent financial transactions being perpetuated by Point of Sale (POS) Business Operators across Nigeria.

The House equally tasked authorities of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to, in the public interest, introduce stringent regulations and guidelines including sanctions on the Point of Sale (POS) business operations in Nigeria;

The House resolutions followed a motion sponsored by Hon Jimoh Olajide, who solicited for the House intervention with a view to ameliorate the sufferings of unsuspecting Nigerians who have victims of the fraudulent practice.

Hon Olajide, while presenting the motion frowned at the activities of some of the POS managers using the POS for fraudulent acts to create fake credit alerts to defraud innocent customers.

He said “the House notes that the Point of Sale System is where customers make payments for products or services rendered but due to many factors, the Point of Sale has been turned into a lucrative business in Nigeria and has provided jobs for millions of unemployed Nigerians that see it as a good alternative to white-collar jobs in the country.

“Worried that the Point of Sale (POS) merchants in Nigeria are not only licensed by Commercial Banks, other Private Companies are currently in the business of giving out Point of Sale for business purposes thus making the business to be more porous and ambiguous.

“Concerned that presently, no financial regulatory bodies in Nigeria can precisely ascertain the total number of Point of Sale Machines and their Operators in the country.

“Also concerned that on December 21 2021, the Punch Newspaper reported an allegation by the residents of Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State alleging that the Aniocha branch’s Union Bank and First Bank Staff deliberately sabotaged the Banks Automated Teller Machines (ATM) on non-availability of cash, thus leaving customers with no choice to patronise the alleged Banks Staff owned POS Centres around the Banks.