As digital financial fraud and account compromise continue to evolve, PalmPay is strengthening its approach to customer protection by embedding security directly into its platform and giving users greater control over the safety of their accounts.
Speaking on PalmPay’s “PalmPay Dey for You” campaign, Olusegun Oludele, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at PalmPay, explained how the fintech combines proactive threat detection, account controls and customer education to protect users from emerging fraud risks.
According to Oludele, analysis of historical customer complaints and security incidents identified device compromise, poor device hygiene and unauthorised logins during off-peak hours among the key factors contributing to financial losses.
In response, PalmPay has consolidated several security controls within its in-app Security Centre, allowing customers to take a more active role in protecting their accounts.
“Everything comes down to preserving trust,” Oludele said. “We are placing technical control directly into the hands of the end user.”
PalmPay’s Security Centre provides customers with tools designed to strengthen account protection and give users greater control over their financial activity.
One of the features highlighted by Oludele is Night Guard, which allows users to restrict transaction activity during selected hours.
Oludele explained that fraud attempts can occur during off-peak periods, including overnight hours when users may be less likely to immediately notice suspicious activity. With Night Guard, customers can lock transaction capabilities during selected time windows, with transactions attempted during those periods requiring additional authentication or an authorised override.
While technology plays a critical role in fraud prevention, Oludele stressed that social engineering remains a significant challenge because fraudsters often target users directly.
“Social engineering is particularly complex because human operators are targeted directly,” he said. “If a user is manipulated into sharing an OTP, PIN or login credentials, technical boundaries can be bypassed.”
As part of the “PalmPay Dey for You” campaign, PalmPay is therefore placing increased emphasis on security education, reminding customers that the company will never ask them to disclose sensitive credentials such as their OTP, PIN or password.
Oludele also urged customers to avoid suspicious links and unverified customer-service channels and to report unusual account activity through PalmPay’s verified support and in-app channels.
PalmPay’s security architecture is designed to balance fraud prevention with a seamless experience for legitimate users.
According to Oludele, when a transaction triggers an anomaly alert, the system can temporarily hold the transaction and request additional verification. Where an alert may be a false positive, PalmPay’s security operations team can assess the activity and release the transaction once it has been verified.
“Security and user experience must be engineered together,” Oludele said, noting that the objective is to introduce stronger protection without creating unnecessary friction around normal customer activity.
Oludele further highlighted PalmPay’s multi-layered approach to infrastructure security, which includes internal audits, regulatory assessments, Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing (VAPT) and continuous risk assessments across its network infrastructure, cloud assets and endpoint configurations.
He described information security as a continuous process rather than a one-time exercise, requiring constant monitoring as threats and attack patterns evolve.
PalmPay also considers data protection and privacy throughout its security and engineering processes. Oludele said the company adheres to applicable data protection requirements, including principles around consent and purpose limitation, with customer data collected and used for defined purposes such as account security, identity verification and transaction processing.
Oludele identified three immediate actions customers can take to strengthen the security of their PalmPay accounts: protect their PIN, OTP and password; review and activate relevant security features within the PalmPay Security Centre; and report suspicious activity as quickly as possible through verified PalmPay channels.
“Security works best when the platform and the customer both play an active role,” Oludele said.
Through “PalmPay Dey for You,” PalmPay is reinforcing this shared approach to security by combining technology, real-time threat protection and customer awareness to help users stay ahead of evolving digital fraud risks.
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