Mobile Money

         Mobile Money is an easy, fast, secure and affordable way to send and receive money with the use of mobile phones. With mobile money service all phone users can transfer funds to any recipient in Nigeria and also make payment for goods and services with their phones.

This mode of payment has been made popular in some east African countries particularly Kenya since year 2007.

You don't need to have a bank account to use this service, your mobile number serves as a wallet which you can load with money for use to pay for goods and services.

With mobile money you can do the following;

• send money to other mobile money users

receive money from other mobile money users

make purchases and pay with mobile money by sending money through your phone to a mobile money merchant in exchange for goods and service

Cash in: funding or deposits into your mobile money account

Cash out: withdrawals from mobile money account through an Agent

Funds Transfers to any recipient (both mobile money subscribers and non-subscribers) *** non-subscribers collect cash from an ATM with just a PIN.

Purchase of Airtime ( for self and for others)

Balance Enquiries

Payment of Utility bills etc    

You can also link your mobile money account with your bank account in order to fund your 'wallet' that is mobile money account from your bank account or transfer money to the bank from your mobile money account.  

 

      Organizations licensed to carry out mobile money service are telecommunication companies and banks which have their Agents all over the place to attend to your mobile money needs such as such as registration, deposits (cash-in) and withdrawals (cash-out).
***The process of withdrawal is such that you transfer value from your mobile money account to an agents account and the agent gives you cash. UDM56RWPVSAZ 

How to subscribe to mobile money

    To start using mobile money service all you need is your mobile phone to register for the service by simply dialing a short code from the phone or downloading the application if you want to use the web-lite version (for gprs enabled phones) or you can walk into any of the banks that currently offer this service or meet their Agents. 

Mobile money uses the short codes USSD that is on your SIM card available on most new SIM cards and you will always receive an SMS notifying you of the status of your transaction. The old SIM card that you have been using for some years now might not be able to use this service. 

      You can subscribe to mobile money services from the following banks in Nigeria by dialing the codes listed below or clicking on the link to download the web-lite version.

 

       Stanbic IBTC Bank *909#

       FirstBank    *894#

       Ecobank     *326#

       UBA             Umobile

       GTBank       GTBank Mobile money

       FCMB          FCMB Mobile

       Zenith Bank Zenith Bank eazymoney

 Presently I use Stanbic IBTC Bank mobile money service without having an account with the bank and the experience has been very wonderful.

The short codes can be used on any network a bank has partnered with and also some banks are yet to launch their own mobile money service.

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Secure Web Browsing.

       Its essential to always know that your data is secure when you are browsing the Internet or inputting your details which may include userid, password, PIN, and answers to "secret question" on a website in order to access the site or carry out some transactions on the site. There are many clone or counterfeit websites on the Internet that the moment you put in your details they are automatically collected and saved away and this could result in your account being accessed by unauthorized persons or permanently hacked.

          Here are some simple things to look out for so that your credentials or details are not stolen when you are trying to access a website;

• The website address: carefully observe the web address that it starts with https, website addresses that begins with https uses Secure Socket Layer protocol SSL which help protect information as it is being transmitted over a network connection to a remote web server, this protect your details userid, password and other sensitive data as it passes through the network.

      For a web server that supports the SSL protocol the Internet address for the server will begin with

      https:// instead of http:// as indicated in the snapshot below.

　

A lock sign at the end of the address bar or at the right corner at the bottom of the web page indicates that your connection to the website is secure and your data cannot be intercepted because it as been encrypted. Encryption provides secure exchange of information between the website you are visiting and your web browser. When you send information to a website, it is encrypted at your computer and decrypted at the website and normally the details cannot be read or tampered with making it very difficult for unauthorized persons to view your information while it is being sent. It is therefore very unlikely that anyone reads the page as it travels across the network.

    You can click on this lock icon to view the identity of the website.      

  

Green colour of the address bar: when you visit a website that uses a secure connection the colour of the address bar changes to green gradually along the bar as the page is loading. This green colour indicates that the website has a valid certificate i.e EV certificates and also the level of validation that was performed by the certifying organization, (a certificate is used to identify the owner or company that owns a website). Extended Validation (EV) certificates turn the address bar green, and provide more in-depth validation of the identity of a website.

　

          Be sure to look out for these simple tips whenever you are trying to use your details especially sensitive information on a website!

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