Lawmakers Investigate Privacy Breach, Identify Theft of Telephone Subscribers

Udora Orizu

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committees on Telecommunications and Banking and Currency to look into the cases of telephone subscribers who have fallen victims to breach of their privacy and identity theft to identify inadequacies in the relevant regulatory frameworks and proffer solutions.

The resolution of the lawmakers was sequel to the adoption of a motion on the, ‘Need to protect telephone subscribers from breach of privacy, fraud and loss of money,’ sponsored by Hon. Olusola Fatoba at yesterday’s plenary.

Moving the motion, Fatoba noted that by standard practice, telephone numbers and email addresses are usually required to open a bank account.

He also noted that in line with the regulations of the Nigerian Communications Commission on dormant or inactive lines, telecommunication companies have the right and may reassign SIM cards and phone numbers once they are inactive for some time without recourse to the previous owners, so long as they remain inactive for a set period.

He expressed concerns that in spite of the regulatory frameworks in existence, the occurrence of a breach of privacy, cases of fraud and consequently financial losses are on the increase.

He also expressed concerns that many Nigerians had fallen victims to illegal and unauthorised deductions of funds from their bank accounts because their financial institutions keep sending their bank account transaction details to their hitherto phone numbers which had been reassigned to new subscribers, thus opening a dangerous window for fraudulent activities.

The lawmaker said, “Aware that the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) seeks to safeguard the rights of natural persons to data privacy and foster safe-conduct for transactions involving the exchange of personal data, among others.

“Also aware that pursuant to the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, the Consumer Protection Framework was enacted with provisions that prohibit financial institutions from disclosing customers’ personal information and further require that financial institutions have appropriate data protection measures and staff training programs in place to prevent unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, accidental loss and or destruction of customer data.

“Cognisant that it is the responsibility of bank account owners to ensure that their linked phone numbers are changed with the financial institutions whenever their phones get lost or when they stop using the linked phones.

“Further concerned that a large number of bank account owners and telephone subscribers in Nigeria are not aware about privacy issues and data protection, and as such are vulnerable and could easily fall prey to identity theft and other nefarious activities of fraudsters.”

Adopting the motion, the House gave the Committees four weeks to carry out the investigation and report back for further legislative action.