‘OPay Has Never Opened Account Without Individual Consent’

 
In response to claims by Nigerians on social media to have discovered owning accounts with OPay Digital Services Limited, a digital payment platform, without formally registering with the company,  the licensed mobile money operator that uses customers’ mobile numbers as their account number, has said that there was never a time it opened any account without individual’s consent.

Responding to the allegation, the company’s  Head of Marketing  Adekunle Adeyemi, said, “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. 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”, Adeyemi added. 

He said further that some of these accounts have had no balance in them since they were opened, adding, “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) an account on behalf of any individual.”

He however encouraged any individual with similar concerns to contact the fintech via any of its 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 organisation”, he added.