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Nigerian payment and financial service company, OPay, has denied opening any account without an individual or its customer’s consent.
The digital payment platform disclosed this in reaction to claims on social media that the company uses people’s phone numbers to open accounts without the consent of the owners.
On Tuesday, many people took to their X handle to complain about how they suddenly became owners of OPay account numbers without prior request.
A user, @hackSultan wrote: “I just checked now to discover I have an Opay account, same with every member of my family. None of us has ever opened an Opay account. How’s this even legal?”
Another user, @IHarbaty said: “Tried this and it works…I don’t have an account with Opay but my number has an account with them…but..I tried it with my parents’ numbers..I didn’t work..but my siblings own worked..and we don’t have an account with Opay…what kinda voodoo is this.”
OPay reacts
Reacting in a statement sent to newsmen on Thursday, the company said its investigations revealed that some of the numbers involved had, at different times, in 2019/2020 created an OPay account.
The company explained that its wallet could only be opened through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-established registration process which requires the input of an OTP (one-time password) authentication and ID authentication from the user’s phone to proceed.
“Some 48 hours ago, we got 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,” Adekunle Adeyemi, head of marketing OPay Digital Services Limited, said in a statement sent to newsmen.
He said, “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.
“I would like to say that the OPay wallet can only be opened through the CBN-established registration process which requires the input of an OTP authentication (one-time password) and ID authentication from the user’s phone to proceed. It is also important to note that OPay has never created (nor does it operate) any account on behalf of any individual.
“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,” he said.
OPay is a one-stop mobile-based platform for payments, transfers, loans, savings and other essential services for every individual.
Currently, the platform said it boasts over 35+ million registered app users and 500,000 agents in Nigeria who rely on its services to send and receive money, pay bills and many more.
OPay launched its mobile payment service in August 2018, creating an infrastructure on which the company is now also adding new services. The agent-centric mobile payment operation focuses on reaching the massive unbanked population of Nigeria.
