Numerous scams have popped up over the years, many of which involve someone asking for bank information to transfer money to you (when in reality they are attempting to access your accounts) or very convincing emails claiming to be from financial institutions asking for your bank details or even transfer money for goods. However, what if you really need to send money to Nigeria? How can you choose the right service to ensure you are not a victim of online fraud? This article will help establish how you can protect yourself online when sending money to Nigeria.
Checks You Should Make Prior to Sending Funds
When sending money abroad, regardless of the country, you should always do your due diligence before transferring funds. Only send money to trusted people. When choosing a website service to use to make the payment, you should make sure that the site displays the SSL certificate in the browser bar. This means information is sent via an encrypted server and is more secure than a website which doesn’t have a certificate. You should also ensure you are using a private Wi-Fi connection at home and a personal device, as using public connections/machines can be a route to your data for potential hackers. Also, make sure that the anti-virus software is up to date and working fine. Once you have established all these things, you can begin to look at potential services to use to make a payment.
Ways to Send Money to Nigeria
1. Bank Transfer
Bank transfers are often the go-to payment option for sending money; however, they offer very little in terms of the security of funds. The main benefit of a bank transfer is that you can go to your bank and have them make the payment for you, and this means you are sending via the bank’s secure system, which will protect you from hackers, but not scammers, as these payments are generally irreversible.
2. ACH Transfer
An ACH transfer is much like a bank transfer on the surface; however, it does have an additional layer of security in that if you discover the person you are sending funds to isn’t genuine, you can usually stop the transaction, but only for a limited time.
3. PayPal
PayPal is a well-known app that allows you to send funds without sharing your banking information. It also has purchase protection on some items, but this guarantee only really applies to physical goods, with a clear sales page.
4. Ria Money Transfer
Like PayPal, Ria Money Transfer offers a way to send money to Nigeria without sharing your bank details, but it also offers multiple options for payments and allows you to track payments every step of the way. This is a great option to send funds to Nigeria or other countries where you need an additional level of assurance. There are different options to send money to higher-risk countries like Nigeria, but by opting for a more secure service that shares as little data as possible with the recipient, you are giving yourself the best protection possible from hackers and potential scammers. Author Bio: Tricia Lee is a contributing writer at Sparkwebs, a Digital Marketing Agency. When she’s not writing, she loves to travel, dance, and read non-fiction.
