Home ›› 31 Mar 2022 ›› Front
One in 10 users of mobile financial service (MFS) faces fraud and the average size of maximum financial loss from MFS scam is Tk 9,219, says a survey report.
The MFS users living in Sylhet division are the highest 30 per cent to fall victim to such fraudulence while Mymensingh holds the lowest 6 per cent.
Of the MFS fraud victims, 9.2 per cent are male and 9.4 per cent female, as per the report.
The average financial loss is the highest among users in Dhaka division closely followed by Khulna, Mymensingh and Sylhet respectively.
The Policy Research Institute (PRI) unveiled the survey report titled the State of DFS (digital financial services) Consumer Protection in Bangladesh at a webinar on Wednesday.
Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar attended the webinar as the chief guest.
The report said there are various types of MFS frauds like unauthorised PIN access, erroneous disbursement/transaction; data theft during SIM swaps; mobile pooling; KYC scams; lack of implementation of proper KYC protocol; online shopping scams, etc.
The survey shows nearly 1 in 10 MFS users has experienced fraud in both the consumer and agent markets in the country.
It also found that nearly 11.48 per cent people using e-commerce faced fraud in 2020.
The PRI identified four reasons behind the risk of MFS fraud —inadequate mobile application security; lack of digital literacy and awareness; ambiguity in redressing mechanism and lack of proper data governance and privacy policy.
Around 45 per cent agents and 30 per cent victims never had their complaints resolved and compromised PIN accounts for the most reported fraud types in the agent market.
The highest financial loss incurred from compromised PINs amounting to more than Tk 20,000, as per the report.
The analysts share findings from consumer and agent surveys undertaken across 45 districts during August to September last year.
The survey covers a sample of 9,279 individual respondent data points, drawn from over 300 upazilas, using two stratification points – urban/rural and male/female.
The survey report suggested establishing a single dedicated regulatory authority that will ensure effective MFS user safety across different regions and social groups.
The central institutional body must annually measure both the propensity of fraud in the digital financial services sector and explore how the nature of fraud is changing over time.
Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar said all stakeholders including users have to come forward to tackle the MFS fraud.
He stated that while banks failed to reach the rural and marginalised people for financial inclusion, MFS had successes to get to them.
Fraudulence existed in financial sector before the digitalisation, and now fraud has taken a digital shape, Jabbar said, adding that, “The digital fraud will come down when people will achieve digital literacy.”
Ahsan H Mansur said consumer literacy is a major factor in consumer protection.
The PRI survey finds around 55 per cent people using MFS, suggesting that fraud is a major challenge in the sector, cited Mansur.
He argued that regulator and stakeholders have to come forward to train the agents of MFS.
bKash Ltd Chief Executive Officer Kamal Quadir said relatively a small number of e-commerce frauds have occurred through bKash.
“We are continuously training our agents and making them aware about it,” he added.
