As of July 2015 there were over 93 million internet users in Nigeria, this is a huge market for legitimate vendors, advertisers and other service providers but also a significant opportunity for others with less honest goals. Online cyber criminals read such figures with the same optimism as the retailers who have since moved portions of their operations online to further increase their customer base.
Companies such as HouseholdMax, Jumia and Konga are at the forefront of the growing online retail presence in Nigeria. Increased online commerce will in time lead to greater usage of the online payment tools being utilized by some Nigerian consumers. Consumers and retailers alike are in search of greater convenience, mobile payment options will be the next step on that journey. This arena is due to be worth $2.8 trillion globally by 2020, per Future Market Insights . Currently 52% online purchases within Nigeria are said to be done via mobile and tablet devices, per Omokehinde Ojomuyide speaking at the 2015 Card Expo Forum, Lagos. Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology sector contributes 8.4 per cent to the gross domestic product. This sector has, in turn, driven the trade sector which has grown 16.4 per cent as of December 2014.
As with any opportunity there are pitfalls that must be avoided, cyber criminals take pleasure in attacking naive consumers. To avoid being scammed users are advised to make use of site reputation tools such as Web of Trust (WOT) to weed out disreputable/fraudulent websites and to refrain from using unsecured sites to make payments.
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