According to the
Kaspersky Digital Payment survey, 37% of respondents from Nigeria experienced
financial losses associated with threats when using online banking and mobile
wallet services. The majority of users (97%) lost up to USD $1,000 equivalent
as a result of these incidents, while 3% of the respondents reported a loss of
more than USD $1,000 equivalent.
According to the Kaspersky Security Network,
161,272 financial threats were blocked in Nigeria by Kaspersky in 2022. These
attacks were aimed at stealing financial information such as credit card
numbers and login credentials and usually rely on social engineering tactics to
lure victims.
However, the impact of a cyber threat targeting
digital payments does not just impose a financial burden on consumers, but also
affects them psychologically. For example, 60% of respondents from Nigeria said
that they were very anxious about getting their money back. 43% of users
reported that they have less trust in digital payment providers. 80% also
stated that they became more vigilant after experiencing a cyber incident, and
65% installed security solutions like an antivirus on their infected devices.
“Since the
beginning of the pandemic, 64% of users in Nigeria faced at least one incident
when using digital payments. That’s why it’s increasingly important to know how
to interact securely with any emerging technologies, including online banking
and mobile wallet services. And all stakeholders, like government, digital
payment providers, users and even cybersecurity companies need to come together
to create a sustainable and secure payment ecosystem,” said Emad Haffar, Head of technical experts at
Kaspersky.
