The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are working to expand the use of a telecommunications identity verification system across more sectors of the economy, in a move aimed at reducing fraud involving recycled telephone numbers and compromised digital identities.
The initiative is expected to strengthen safeguards around financial transactions and other digital services by helping authorised organisations identify phone numbers that have been reassigned to new users or flagged for suspicious activity.
Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Aminu Maida, disclosed the planned expansion of the Telecommunications Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS) during the commission’s 95th Telecom Consumer Parliament in Lagos.
Maida said the system would build on the existing collaboration between the NCC and the CBN, with the objective of extending verification capabilities to other sectors that rely on telephone numbers to identify customers and process transactions.
Recycled phone numbers pose financial risks
Telephone numbers have become a critical part of digital identity, particularly in banking, fintech, pension administration and e-commerce. Customers routinely use their numbers to receive transaction alerts, reset passwords and authenticate access to accounts.
However, when a number is disconnected and later reassigned to another subscriber, organisations that fail to update their records may continue associating the number with its previous owner.
This creates potential risks where the new subscriber receives messages or verification codes intended for another person. Fraudsters may also attempt to exploit outdated customer records or weaknesses in account-recovery procedures.
TIRMS is designed to help authorised service providers verify the status of phone numbers, including whether they have been swapped, reassigned, blacklisted or otherwise flagged for risk.
The system is intended to add another layer of protection rather than replace banks’ existing identity checks, transaction monitoring and customer authentication procedures.
Digital security and consumer protection
The proposed expansion comes as financial institutions increasingly rely on mobile applications, digital transfers and other electronic channels to serve customers.
While digital banking has improved convenience and expanded access to financial services, it has also increased the importance of protecting customers against identity theft, account takeover and social engineering.
The NCC has also highlighted consumer complaints involving failed airtime and data transactions, network quality and unclear billing. Maida said telecom operators and other service providers needed to ensure that consumer protection measures resulted in actual remedies for affected customers.
For banks and payment providers, the expanded use of phone-number risk information could help identify potential threats earlier, although the effectiveness of the system will depend on accurate records, timely updates and appropriate data-protection safeguards.
The collaboration signals a broader regulatory effort to address fraud risks at the intersection of telecommunications and financial services.
