Topic: How to avoid virtual bank apps hack when phone got stolen or misplaced (Read 403 times)

When choosing a password you should choose a password with a minimum of 8 letters and the password should have a capital letter, a number, and a symbol so that it will be hard to break when you misplace your phone. Also if you lose your phone and you can not get access to your bank customer care because it is night, use another person's phone to call your network provider to block your sim card so that if the phone falls into the wrong hands they will not get access to your banking Apps.

mehn, to be honest, a lot of us have been careless with our security because we've not had a first-hand experience where our gadget was stolen and all our funds taken from us within a twinkle of an eye.

Even if you've lost your sim pack and might be afraid that if your sim is blocked, you might not have access to you puck code, understand that it's cheaper to unlock your sim from a service providers office than recovering a stolen fund from the bank. From the record and if I'm not wrong, I have not seen anyone that has recovered his stolen money ones there account has been hacked into. And since it's actually a mobile banking where most of them don't even have a physical location, it would be confusing and frustrating to even know the steps to take if you fall a victim.

Make your financial security your primary responsibility.

Money no de easy to get and make nobody come take the small one when you don try gather o

Yeah, protection of sim card by setting it on Pin code is very important because if your phone gets lost or stolen and someone attempts to open the pin code and keeps trying different codes conspicuously the sim card will be automatically blocked so when it gets blocked it will be difficult to access any data or information on your phone.

This is what people like about them and even though it difficult to locate their branch we still have so much believe in them because of the small small benefits we get. They have made online banking very easy and affordable for us and that’s why we all hardly make use of any commercial bank. They have so much advantage over commercial banks that why most Nigerians have turn to them. Another reason why we avoid saving money in commercial banks is because of the unexpected deduction of our money, they will just deduct an amount without any notice or reason and without any debit alert. While using them i am still very cautious because anything can happen in Nigeria so I don’t save all my money in these digital micro finance banks.

This is very common way people get scammed especially from these banks because they don’t provide enough security so I believe it our own duty to safe guard our assets to prevent an hack in case we misplace our devices.

Good advice OP, na true, if we practice these precautionary measures e go help us protect our money and make we no de forget the kind amount wey we go de keep inside these kind banks because if something happen e go hard to locate any of their branch to go report make them freeze the account asap. No matter the benefit wey dis banks de give us we no fit trust dem fully so to me i still feel say the best bank to use na still our common commercial banks if we wan get peace of mind.

Men I think say na the idea of using separate phone as SmartCharpa talk go work pass because when those guys request for OTP to do anything from your phone and it is sent to a different phone that is not in their custody that means all their labour and wicked effort to collect your money no go work. This is even clear to see as you even dey use am for your house when you get two phones as alert dey come to another phone different from the one you use request. This na a nice security check already. So we go try no dey comot with all our phones at same time. Like if we want to go out and we want to do some transaction for the place we dey go, we fit do am finish before we begin comot with only one phone.

Password good for phone and sim even to lock our messages but I been dey discuss with some guys wey dey do tech things and how to unlock phones without having the password apart from flashing the phone because if you flash am that means you go lose everything on the phone, meaning say you no go see anything wey you dey look for. The guy say e still dey possible for yahoo guys to unlucky your phone without your password, say some dey use application untop the phone self and dem go bypass the password and get access inside the phone. The guy say whether na windows 10 abi 11 dem dey use for that kind work but say na only iphone dem no dey fit access without password. Anyway, me I no no though but I no still know if dat kind windows 10 abi 11 go still fit access sim wey dem luck.



This one we no need to talk am twice because them no dey tell blind make say war don start. Blind man no deff so him go hear gun shots. Push your money away from all these new payment platforms. In fact, they can be scammed self as far as I can think but at least if your money dey for bank or btc, you just have to take responsibility of your own

Well the thing be say we ourselves need to dey security conscious, make we just dey careful. Use different phone for app and OTP, Log out email, apps or any other stuff,  Go out with one.

Op your thread make sense.

Security on sim cards (pin) and 2FA authentication on those Apps are very important in this case because that is mostly where they would run most of the shit if they gain access to your phone.

Aside from being hacked when you lost your phone,  The issue with most of these online Apps is they are not that secure, and Based on the increasing number of hacks I have seen recently I don't even fucking keep funds in those Apps because I don't trust them and I could get drained at any time despite the level of security you got.  

Even the traditional banking Apps upon the level of security they have when you approach the customer service unit you would see several complaints about funds being hacked, so I only use them to carry out transactions and at the end of the day move my funds back.

Mostly these hack issues are a result of inside jobs, The people working inside the bank or with these money firms leak customers' details to those hackers out there hence increasing the rate of hacks experienced in Nigeria.

Well, this is really a good advice and one I thi0nk we should all adhere to, I myself have been using visual bank apps for quite some time now, I have actually been using opay for over two years now without any issues since I rarely lose or misplace my phone, but still, I perfectly u understand the risk involved with usage of such banks, this is why I only keep a tiny amount of money on my opay account, and this money is always money that I am ready to spend in few hours or the next day, I have account on major banks where I save tangible amounts..

But then, a little observation here, for many of us who use banking apps for transfers and confirmation of received money on our phones, if we misplace our phones or lose it, and it is not passworded or locked, can't the person who picked the phone use the same process used in accessing the visual banking apps, to access the major banking apps on our phones?

I think the safest thing here is to never leave your phone unpassworded or unlocked, this helps in the sense that when we lose it, and the picker of the phone is not able to guess the password to unlock it, he or she will have no choice but to flash the phone which will automatically delete everything in the phone leaving the picker with no access to our major and important information.

Na the best way be this but unfortunately some people are still using sim card not registered with their details. Even with the introduction of NIN to register sim, some people are still buying registered sim for reason best known to them. In a case like this, if you are using sim not registered in your name you don enter one chance already because even if you managed to block the Sim card by calling the service providers, retrieving the Sim card by welcome back will never be easy for you.

I believe we too like soft thing and sharp sharp for 9ja but make we dey consider implications too sometimes to avoid regret later. If you are still using sim card not registered in your name please visit any of registration center with your NIN and other details to update the Sim card information to your own.

Very nice, simple and informative thread. I go like response on some of your tips dem. No go dey expect transparency from centralized service providers dem, your local banks no get transparency so wetin come dey give you idea say all this online banks go get. Sha not having large sum of money in those apps na the surest protections wey you fit give yourself. Make your money dey your local banks and you dey transfer am to online banks dem when you wan spend am. To add more security, no dey hold money for banks self, store dem for your crypto wallet and the trade to naira whenever you need funds. Of course emergency funds go dey your account but no dey store much as you dey lose self if you dey hold Naira as dis one wey be say dollars just dey grow anyhow.


Password only no go do, if the apps get 2FA protection add am join so people no go fit access even when dey mistakenly guess your password. Also take ur protection a step further and hide ur bank apps for your phone, no make an easy for dis thief dem atleast make dem work for am before dem fit steal anything. If you no get phone wey get double space wey be say you fit move all your important apps dem to the second space den download those apps wey dey help hide apps for fone and hide your banks apps. E no go only save you incase you misplaced your phone but e go help you avoid unwanted extortion from all this uniform man wey dey worry boys everywhere.

This is a very good method to secure your wallet online, I have never thought of this before and it will really help secure the account more in a case of intruder trying to get access to the account. Doing accessibility of one’s account by the intruder, with a locked sim, the OTP code can’t be accessible for them and their efforts will become abortive.


Some android phones are easily jailbreak when stolen but the level at which the security of the phones are being built this day, they are not easily accessible like before and will need extra effort and time or they end up formatting the phone all and not having access to bank accounts.


With the way people dey trust dis online banks ehn, e dey shock me sef. Some people trust am pass their other banks wey dem dey use before which e no suppose be so. Na d the fast in transaction processing na him make people believe dem pass their normal bank wey dem don dey use before. To leave small money for inside d accounts na him be the best for anybody.

I have been using this privacy screen guard for a while now and works perfectly just as you said. If the person close to you does not have a direct contact into your phone, they can’t see what is displaying on your screen. This privacy also protects your eyes from direct screen light from the phone’s screen. Although, it is not that cheap like other screen guards but security of funds is more important.


Exactly, most smartphone users don’t waste their time enabling only passwords to access an application. For faster access, fingerprints are enable which can be very dangerous in a case of a stolen phone. If someone have known your password earlier, they can easily add fingerprint to it without your notice. Your funds can even be sweep away without a case of stolen phone. Privacy and security should be paramount in this technological age.

Most Android phones that support fingerprint do give access for adding more than one fingerprint, as a result of that if someone who know your phone password is aiming to scam you or to move your money, they can easily add their fingerprint in your phone so that they can easily have access to everything that you enable fingerprint to unluck which is very dangerous.

Nice one op. I just wan add say if dem steal your phone or you lost am, weda na torchlight phone or android phone wey you dey use, as long as di sim dey linked to your bank account, boys go do you strong thing. No loose guard, just rush call your service provider make dem block your sim immediately, you fit always do welcome back anytime, the safety of your funds na im matter di most.

Same here, because wen dem flash di phone all di installed apps go disappear as well as di information wey dey di phone. Even if dem fit get access to di phone and successfully open di bank mobile app or digital bank app, dem go still need to enter PIN or use fingerprint to initiate a transaction. So e no easy like dat to use app collect person money, na di sim card be di most important thing.

Happy to have come across this thread and this useful explanation by@Igebots I have always believed that using my finger print as my password during financial transaction on my bank app is the most secured way for me since my phone and my fingers are my privacy but I have never thought of being asleep and someone and someone accesses my bank app using my finger print, this is a very good information I must say but how can the person access my bank app while am sleeping when the person has no password to my phone because personally I don't joke with my privacy and my phone is always on password.

Secondly, please I will like to know@Igebots is there a way that some one can decode the password of someone to have access to the phone of the person without knowing the security of the person? Is there a device that can be used to perform such criminal act.

Well said Sir "Igebotz", and I appreciate your effort in elaborating on this, because, with your explanation now, I'm sure even a lay-man to get to understands what you meant when you advised people to avoid using fingerprints when living/staying around people they don't trust. Because it takes only an experienced member to know a potential hack, and you have just done one, which I'm sure will go a long way in enlightening whichever Newbie that happens to come across this thread. U be indeed Odogwu!!

Yes everyone has a unique finger print buy using your finger print for financial transactions/bank app is not a smart idea since anyone near to you can access your bank app or phone using your finger print while you're asleep or drunk. To confirm transactions, always use a pin code. Nobody can force your pin out of you while you're unconscious. That's what Charles was trying to elaborate

I normally use fingerprint in my phone and I thought not is the best because fingerprint makes things easier and faster. And many when the phone is misplaced and got stolen by all those rogues, they would withdraw or transfer all the funds in the app and also use the app to borrow more money from app again and making the owner to pay un-necessary loan. There are other prevention one can take immediately ones the phone is stolen. And the faster you do the faster it can be secured.

Once your phone is stolen, take any person phone that close to you at the moment and call your sim y customer care service and told them to lock your sim card.
Step to lock your SIM card
For more information https://mobility.com.ng/how-to-lock-your-sim-card/

Is not until you lost your device before you can be vulnerable for an attack, most of the victims of these kind experience would have done alot of mischievous task online making unnecessary downloads and visited some malicious links and websites, they would have accumulated a number of times these evading malwares unknowingly to them yet they will enter their personal information on google forms to give more accessibility for them to be attacked, while hackers in most cases may not need our device before they can steal from us, they can use our card or bank sensitive information to buy online shopping items with our details, some will also called they they will send us code to send it back to them, yet you will discover some users being tricked in this manners and got scammed.

When peso phone lost, wetin hackers d after na your sim card, no be your phone cos d know sae everly your phone go d locked, and for peso to get access to am na to flash am. So wetin dem go actually need na your sim card. Na through that your sim card dem go get access to your bank money.

Wetin the hackers go now do since they are in custody of your sim card, na to get to find out the banks wey d connected to your sim card. Ones dem don find out, na to start to d create mobile apps accounts for the banks connected to your sim card, putting in your BVN and account details into the mobile app downloaded for you. If you already don get mobile app for your phone, dem go request for forgetting password and the rest with your sim card. With that dem go receive the reset password and log in to your account to pull your money out to their Opay account wey no d link to BVN.

This is how I think sae the hackers hacked into peoples account with their lost phone through their sim card. Na why em be sae once peso phone lost na to find means to block em sim card asap before any other thing.

For peso to avoid this kasala for hackers hand toward em account, na to put em sim card for pin lock as you don suggest but make em make sure sae em get em sim pack within em reach to avoid changing phone or losing phone in the future.

You have a good article for sensitization OP. I think any one who comes in contact with this article would be enlightened enough to know what to do when it comes to securing their funds while using banking apps. Of a truth these micro finance banks can not be trusted with our funds as virtually all of them are office-less  and their is every tendency that if they run away with funds now they can not be located that easily to get back a refund of customers funds. If you can, do away with keeping funds in your microfinance bank app or if possible a little token for emergency or transportation expenses. Although they are most sort after as a result of their speed in transactions but one needs be careful as well.

Sometimes,it is best one takes the risk of getting gadgets if possible or if their is availability of funds at disposals to secure your details and information. Separating your sims can best be done if you are majorly into online activities that requires otp.  Get a smaller phone without internet connection with your simcard so you could be receiving your otp there while you walk freely and lastly, mind the  way you press
 your phone in public places because you do not know who is watching you and possibly making you a target of attack.