Last Month, Nigerians on social media were tricked by the suspenseful trend “What Is The 737 ?” popping up, from hashtags to sponsored ads and billboard campaigns. Little did we know that one of Africa’s largest and leading contemporary banks, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc widely known as GTBank in Nigeria, who are behind the trend was about to hit us with yet another “innovative banking service .” Weeks later, it was officially launched to the public, albeit it has been in operation weeks prior to it’s official introduction, as i have used It twice last month. They say ” Just Dial *737# ” It’s as easy as that. What this service simply does is that by just dailing *737# you can either 1. Open a GTBank Account 2. Transfer Money ( anytime of the day 24/7) 3. Purchase Airtime 4. Check account balance and many more, right at the convenience of your fingertips, using jusy your mobile phone ( even a Nokia torch will perform this service, apparently you don’t require any internet access to do so) … but am here to talk about the security risk sorrounding the “Fund Transfer ” service included and why it’s a ‘ beautiful nonsense ‘ Just yesterday a friend of mine called me and was lamenting on how some group of boys ganged up against him and made off with his GTBank ATM card and cell phone, at about 7:21pm somwhere in Suleja. Getting to a nearby branch to lay complaint of his stolen card the next day, alas 20,000 Naira has been hijacked off his bank account already. “Chai !! na wa ooo, for this dollar bill economy.. I exclaimed as he narrates his ordeal to me. And sadly, that’ actually to the last penny savings on his account. Unfortunately, prior to the ugly incident, this dude was not aware of the bank’s newly introduced banking service. Thus wouldn’t have known that with just your GTBank ATM card and registered phone number its now easy to transfer money from one bank account to another in a minute. HOW THEY DID IT, and WHY IT’S a ‘ BEAUTIFUL NONSENSE‘ ?? Now that’s why I called this service a ‘ beautiful nonsense‘ because of its high risk and poor security. Of course since they were in possession of his cell phone and GTBank ATM naira Mastercard, the ‘innovative smart criminals’ dialed *737# followed the instructions, filled in the amount they wanted, their account number, their bank and lastly 4-digit security code which is the last 4 digits on the ATM card, and boom !!! the money is transfered right inside their own account. SEE ALSO : Central Bank Of Nigeria Starts Review of Guide to Bank Charges The bank brags that this service is safe and convenient. ‘ Convenient’ ? Yes for sure, but ‘ Safe‘ ? a big NO, and will never be safe with the current procedure for money transfer, even if Vincent Enyeama decides to make a U – turn back to the Super Eagles . We all know many Nigerians banking with Guaranty Trust Bank still stands a high risk of losing their money to smart bad guys, we all know an average Nigerian moves about to his or her office and almost everywhere with ATM card and cell phone, and we know what that means (that is to say; criminals can even walk up to you and do the smart move.) We also know many children have easy access to their parents cell phone, which most will know the last four digits of their ATM card, and we know what that means. One of the major essence of keeping our money in the bank is for safety, what then happens when banks services are no longer safe ? It becomes a ‘ beautiful nonsense .’ MY SUGGESTION / SECURITY SOLUTION I suggest to, and advice the management of GTBank to consider the following for safety of their *737# Money Transfer service. 1. Customers Must Choose their 4-digits code by themselves Just like the ATM card security code for withdrawals, rather than making the last 4 digits of customers naira master card as default security code for money transfer, it should be a decision for each customer to choose whatever 4 digits he or she wants as security code. Thus nobody, even if they are in possession of your ATM card and cell phone can temper with the money in your bank account. 2. It Should Be Optional I strongly suggest for security reasons, that this particular service should be optional. Of course as it stands now, the service is automatically activated for all GTBank account holders with their ( ATM) Naira Mastercard . This is an epic fail by the company, I must bluntly say. So I firmly stand that customers should be allowed to decide if such services be activated on their bank account or not, as many Nigerians operate accounts with different banks each for a particular purpose. SEE ALSO : Nigerian Naira On the Fall Again In the Parallel Market MY CONCLUSION All said and yet to be done, while we await on the management of GTBank to act with immediate affect to these regards, I will advise my fellow Nigerians banking with Guaranty Trust Bank to stay at alert and avoid risking their hard earned money in this though economy to bad guys. Thank you all for reading through. I hope I made a few sense with my ‘ beautiful nonsense. ‘ Until I write you again, stay blessed and keep making legal money. by Uc Artt Ekwueme ( Chief Editor for HypeNigeria.com) ucarttekwueme@gmail.com

It's actually scary. Imagine you lose your purse containing your ATM card and phone. You don die be that. Looking at so many insecurity on ground now,carrying ATM card around is even risky. I now leave little change in my GTB. The only account I keep funded is the one I can't access unless I'm at the counter. Let one bagger now tell me someone somewhere bought things from Alibaba.com using my account