37% of Nigerians have stated they have become the victims of various fraud attacks which has resulted in them losing up to thousands in losses, according to the Kaspersky Digital Payment survey.
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 Kaspersky, 161,272 financial threats were blocked in Nigeria by the firm 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, with 60% of respondents from Nigeria saying 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,” said Emad Haffar, Head of Technical Experts at Kaspersky.
“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 the government, digital payment providers, users and even cybersecurity companies need to come together to create a sustainable and secure payment ecosystem.”
