Access Bank Launches ‘Spot the Scam’ Drive to Protect Young Nigerians

Access Bank Plc has launched a financial crime awareness campaign targeted at teenagers and young students, between ages 12 to 16 warning that young people are increasingly vulnerable to scams and recruitment into financial crimes.

The bank, which unveiled its “Spot-The-Scam” campaign in Lagos, said the initiative was designed to equip young people with the knowledge to identify, avoid and report fraudulent activities before they become either victims or perpetrators.

Speaking during a media session on the initiative, the Chief Conduct and Compliance Officer of Access Bank, Solomon Abiakalam, said the bank decided to take financial crime awareness beyond regulatory compliance by reaching young people at an early age.

Abiakalam said the decision was informed by the increasing sophistication of financial crimes and the ways fraudsters target young people through social media, online games, seemingly attractive rewards and other digital platforms.

He cited the December 10, 2024 operation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in Victoria Island, Lagos, where hundreds of young people were arrested in connection with alleged cybercrime and other financial crimes, as an indication of the scale of the challenge.

According to him, the incident exposed the need for greater preventive education, particularly among young people who could either become victims of financial crimes or be recruited into criminal networks.

He stated: “Beyond just what the regulators expect us to do, beyond what our risk programmes expect us to do, we may need to go upstream. We may need to go to the people who are actually the victims of financial crime, who would be the victims tomorrow and who are also victims today. We may also need to look at people who may be the perpetrators of financial crime tomorrow and who today might even inadvertently become perpetrators.”

He said fraudsters often lure young people with seemingly harmless offers, rewards, celebrity identities and online games before gradually exposing them to more serious criminal activities.

On her part, the Acting Group Head, Marketing and Retail Analytics, Access Bank, Oge Kasie-Nwachukwu, said parents had a critical role to play in preventing children from becoming victims or participants in financial crimes.

According to her, the campaign would involve different stakeholders, including schools, parents, financial institutions, telecommunications companies and government agencies.

She said the initiative was not intended to be a one-size-fits-all programme, adding that the bank planned to expand its reach to more young people.

On the role of schools, the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education representative, Ronke Matuluko, said guidance counsellors in schools had a responsibility to educate students on the dangers associated with scams and other forms of financial crime.

She noted that peer pressure, curiosity and the desire to acquire expensive gadgets could expose young people to fraudulent activities.

Meanwhile, Head, Regulatory and Financial Crime Compliance, Access Bank, Inyang Etim, said the bank had continued to strengthen its internal training and monitoring systems to prevent financial crimes.