Opay faces controversy as Nigerians discover they have accounts without opening one

Fintech company, OPay, may have some explanations to do to Nigerians and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) as many people are now discovering they have an account in their name with the company even without opening one.

The issue that surfaced on the social media platform, X, on Monday has seen many people coming out to confirm that they are just discovering they have an account with the company through their mobile number.

OPay as a licensed mobile money operator, uses customers’ mobile numbers as their account numbers. It is, however, unclear yet how people who have not approached the company for account opening are seeing their number as an OPay account with their full names.

We put this claim to test with a phone number that has never been registered with OPay, using a GTBank app and it indeed brought out our Analyst’s full name.

A test transaction was initiated to transfer N200 to the account and it successfully went through.

A debit alert was received from GTB, but the question remains where did the money go?

Sharing the discovery, an X user, @hackSultan wrote 

• “I just checked now and someone, I have an Opay account, same with every member of my family. None of us has ever opened an Opay account. How’s this even legal?” 

I just checked now and someone, I have an Opay account, same with every member of my family.

None of us has ever opened an Opay account…….

How’s this even legal?

— Name cannot be blank (@hackSultan) October 2, 2023

This prompted other people to check their number. This can be done by trying to send money from another bank app and then selecting OPay as the receiving bank and typing your phone number as the account number without the first “0” digit.

Another X user, @0sadebame tried this and confirmed that there is an OPay account for her two lines.

“It’s quite a discovery. Both my lines have an OPay account registered to them. I’ve never used Opay before,” she said.

It's quite a discovery. Both my lines have an Opay account registered to them. I've never used Opay before.

— ʙᴠᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴄᴏᴛᴄʜ ✨ (@0sadebame) October 2, 2023

It was the same for @Lost_DWTBF, who shared:  

• “I just checked mine and is the same. @OPay_NG, is there a reason why my number is registered when I have never?” 

I just checked mine and is the same.. @OPay_NG, is there a reason why my number is register when I have never??

— Evans (@Lost_DWTBF) October 2, 2023

The result was the same for many other people without an OPay account who checked and found out there is an OPay account to their number and with their full names.