Fintech company OPay has provided explanations regarding mobile numbers that were discovered to have been registered with accounts without the owners initiating the account opening process.
In a statement released to the press, the company clarified that its investigations found that some of these numbers had created OPay accounts at some point in 2019 or 2020.
Accounts allegedly created without consent
OPay emphasized that the creation of an OPay wallet follows the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) established registration process, which mandates the input of a one-time password (OTP) authentication from the user’s phone to proceed.
The company stressed that it has never created or operated an account on behalf of any individual.
Kunle Adeyemi, Head of Marketing at OPay, explained:
“24 hours ago, we received information that there were active accounts/wallets on our OPay app, which the owners alleged had been created without their knowledge and/or consent.
We then immediately commenced an investigation to determine the authenticity of these claims as all OPay wallets are adequately registered in line with regulatory requirements.
Based on our investigation, we discovered that these accounts 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.
It is imperative to note that some of these accounts have had no balance in them since they were opened.
As a law-abiding, strictly regulated entity, we have unequivocally inquired of these individuals if they would like to retain the accounts, and we obliged based on their responses.
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 organization.”