Reliance Infosystems Reveals New Framework to Fight Financial Fraud

In recent times, many corporate organizations in Nigeria have, especially those in the financial sector, have fallen victims of electronic (financial) frauds, but Reliance Infosystems has confirmed the availability of Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to detect such dubious emails.

The Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) had disclosed, although 50% growth was recorded in the level of usage of various electronic payment transactions in the country in 2014, internet banking, the ever-increasing use of the ATMs and other electronic platforms have in one way or the other accelerated the growth of fraudulent activities.

According to NIBSS report, cheques and over-the-counter fraud has given more room to a sophisticated and more concise electronic type of fraud.

In Nigeria, the report disclosed, internet banking and ATM were the lead channels for perpetuating e-fraud in 2014.Specifically, NIBSS disclosed that in 2014, Nigeria recorded 1,461 cases of fraud compared to 822 in 2013.

NIBSS explained that from the 1,461 cases, the value of attempted fraud reported was N7, 750, 152, 748, while the actual loss was N6, 215, 987, 323 in 2014 compared to N19, 148, 787, 069 attempts and N485, 194, 350 actual loss value reported in 2013.

The figures depict that more fraud occurred in 2014 and more loss was recorded in terms of value compared to the attempted fraud value, the document stated.

However, Mr. Olayemi Popoola, managing director, Reliance Infosystems Limited confirmed that majority of the ‘bank frauds’ occur, “in which scan copies of duly signed fund transfer instructions were ‘purportedly’ emailed from the customers' email  systems to their banks. Some of the banks honored the instructions incautiously while others took extra measures at confirmations”.

According to the Company, “The good news is that this type of fraud can be significantly contained by implementing Sender Policy Framework (SPF) on your domain name system (DNS). SPF is a simple email validation system designed to detect email spoofing by providing a mechanism to allow receiving mail exchangers to verify that incoming mail from a domain is being sent from authorized sources.

He said that, Reliance Infosystems is happy to assist willing organizations to implement SPF and provide further security advisory services free of charge.

Reliance Infosystems specializes in designing and implementing business critical information technology solutions, uniquely combining its proven intellectual property with premier partner technologies to provide our customers with the competitive edge needed to succeed in today’s business and technology landscapes.