Can Your Money Be Accessed With Your BVN? – Facts and Secrets Behind BVN

Can someone have access or move money from my bank account if they know My BVN?, Who Can I give My BVN?, who can request for My BVN and For What reason?, How can my BVN be used against me by fraudsters?, these are some of the security questions people ask regarding BVN, this questions and more will be answered on this post, continue reading to grab the best possible answers to these questions.

What is BVN?

The Bank Verification Number commonly called BVN is a biometric identification system implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria to curb or reduce illegal banking transactions in Nigeria. It is a modern security measure in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 1958 to reduce fraud in the banking system.

The system works by recording fingerprints and a facial photograph of the client.

The BVN or Bank verification number is an 11 digit number that is unique to each individual, but the same across all bank institutions for the same individual. To own and operate a banking account in Nigeria, you must first have a bank verification number.

So literally BVN is a form of another Identity, while enrolling for a BVN individuals must submit their fingerprint, face id and other personal detail like age and address.

Who can request for My BVN and For What Reason?

Since BVN is a form of Identity for every individual that owns a bank account in Nigeria, Financial institutions, Banks, Fintechs and other Monetary institutions can request for your BVN for KYC purposes, this is to cross verify the identity of the persons that uses their product and services, since BVN reveals your real name and other personal details like date of birth and has an authentic verification system, Fintechs and other financial institutions prefer BVN as a primary identification method.

With your BVN the Banks and financial institutions can ascertain your real name, date of birth, Phone number and some times your other bank accounts, let’s take a loan app like Branch for example, Branch will request for your BVN if you are signing up with them, this is to verify if the bank account details you provided(are to provide) truly belongs to you, if the details didn’t match with that of your BVN, Branch will automatically reject your request, this is more like a security measure, without these measures fraudulent persons can get loans using other people’s name and bank details and will never bother to pay back.

Who Can Have My BVN?

BVN is your digital Identity, and should only be given out upon request by finance institute Banks, Fintechs(Loan apps, IMTOs, Exchange Platforms, etc) who are licensed to collect such information for KYC purposes, Identity theft can occur if you give your BVN to individuals, although most times OTP verification is required with the registered phone number for a successful BVN validation, so Identity theft is almost impossible with BVN.

Can People Access or move money out Of My bank account With My BVN?

Often times people become skeptical when Fintechs and other Financial Institutions requests for their BVN for KYC purposes, with they belief that anyone that knows their BVN can access their bank account, move money out of the account without their consent, this belief is wrong and should be corrected, BVN is a form of Identification not an access Pin to people’s bank account, no one can move or transfer money from your bank account just because they know your BVN, some might argue this fact with believe that they are tools(softwares) that can hack your account with just your BVN, this is wrong, the best these softwares can do is to get some personal information(Name, Phone number, Age etc) behind a BVN which the fraudster might try to use to trick(convince) you into believing that they are from your bank when they eventually call you to collect the main details they need for the fraud, which are your ATM details or OTP.

During the N-power enrollment exercise people circulated false claims and proofs of unauthorised debits due to the alleged exposure of their BVN on the N-power portal, this called for Experts on digital banking to clear the air.

Experts Opinions

When contacted Mr Erhabor Precious Esosa, an account officer in Access Bank, he said he could publish his BVN on Facebook, and nothing would happen. According to the officer, the worst-case scenario was an impostor gaining access to the information about the holder of the account: ‘The only way you can be scammed if your BVN is exposed is if you give personal details about the account. You cannot merely steal money or withdraw money from a person’s account with just the BVN. the person needs to have other personal details which can not be gotten from the BVN that is why the scammers call the account holders to get them.’

Mr Kent, a banker at the United Bank for Africa (UBA), threw additional light on the topic. He said the readily available information that can be accessed by anyone is the biodata- the date of birth, state address and phone number: “If you give someone your account number, the person can get your BVN through it from a personalised unified platform for banking. However, your account can only be accessed either through OTP or the debit card details linked to your account.“

The UBA banker further added: “So at the end of the day, if one has your BVN, he still needs to get in touch with you before any fraudulent transaction can occur. Either he accesses your debit card and gets details or cajoles you into giving him your OTP code in the disguise of a banker seeing he has accessed your bio-data from your BVN.”

Similarly, the Central Bank Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Isaac Okorafor said “BVN is the customer identification number. Disclosing one’s BVN carries the same risks as revealing one’s account number. We all give our account numbers to anyone who may want to transfer money into our accounts. This is almost the same thing as giving your BVN out.
The only risk with BVN is that it exposes all your banking relationships. It tells banks and those eligible public agencies which have access to the system where you have accounts”

So when I argue that fraudsters can’t access or move money out of your bank just because they know your BVN Am very correct.

How can My BVN be used against Me By Fraudsters?

If you have read the previous paragraphs thoroughly you must have understood the tactics fraudsters use to defraud people, they can only use the details they got from your BVN to confuse you into believing that they are from your bank, whenever a fraudster have access to your BVN, they will collect your personal information(Name, Bank account number, Age, phone number, account number etc) then place a call to you in the name of your bank, then spell out those details they got from your BVN so that you will believe that he is actually from your bank.

They can put up some lies about an ongoing promotion or free money giveaway by the government just to get your greedy minds attention, if he believe you have been convinced he will now proceed with the main fraud, which is asking for your full ATM Card detail, the CVV and if you are deceived to the extent of them requesting for an OTP, they will ask for that too.

This is why banks always warns against providing your bank details or SMS code to anyone that claims to call from your bank, because they(the bank) can never call you to request for those details.

I hope I have been able to do justice to the BVN related questions asked on the first paragraph of this article.