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Online Shopping Has Never Been Safer Thanks To Our New Debit Cards

Every once in a while a new technology, an old problem and a big idea turn into a groundbreaking innovation. This is the case for us at Bank of Africa (BOA), with the recently introduced new Debit Cards to our card holders at no extra cost, as part of the bankʼs move to increase its client user experience.

The exponential growth in online transactions has in turn resulted in an explosion of online card fraud and related web application attacks. Even as we wait for the official results from the national census, it is estimated that Kenya has around 43 million internet users out of the countryʼs roughly 52 million people representing 84 per cent of the population.

The value of mobile and online commerce on the other hand now stands at Ksh1.8 trillion per year. This stellar growth is attributable to a more exposed and tech savvy population that does not let physical boundaries obstruct or determine when and where they will buy goods and services.

Today Kenyans shop on Amazon, Alibaba, Go Africa, Jumia and other online platforms mostly using credit and debit cards. Unfortunately, this impressive growth has not escaped the attention of fraudsters.

Between January and March 2019 there were a total of 1.2 million reported cyberattacks, a 65 per cent increase from 737 thousand attacks that were reported in the preceding quarter, revealing the extent online fraudsters are snowballing.