Fraud: Reps Task CBN on Stringent Sanctions On PoS Operation

The House of Representatives has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to introduce stringent regulations and guidelines including sanctions as a matter of public interest on the Point of Sale (PoS) business operations in Nigeria.

The resolution followed a motion raised during the House of Representative plenary by Jimoh Olajide, a member representing Lagos Mainland federal constituency.

Olajide while debating the motion, noted that the Point of Sale System (PoS) is where customers make payments for products or services rendered but due to many factors, the Point of Sale (PoS) 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.

The lawmaker pointed out that while many Nigerians are making legal money from this lucrative business, some are using it for fraudulent acts to create fake credit alerts to defraud innocent customers; hence the need for government  intervention.

He expressed his concern that the Point of Sale (PoS) merchants in Nigeria are not only licensed by commercial banks and other private companies that are currently in the business of giving out Point of Sale (POS) for business purposes thus making the business to be more porous and ambiguous.

Olajide lamented that presently, no financial regulatory bodies in Nigeria can precisely ascertain the total number of Point of Sale (PoS) machines and their operators in the country.

He cited the 21 December 2021, Punch Newspaper report following the allegation by the residents of Aniocha South local government area of Delta State accusing the Aniocha branch’s Union Bank and First Bank Staff  of deliberately sabotaging  the Banks Automated Teller Machines (ATM) on non-availability of cash, thus leaving customers with no choice than to patronise the alleged bank’s staff owned PoS centres around the banks.