As Nigeria’s retail landscape moves increasingly online, Mastercard has issued a set of guidelines to help shoppers pay with confidence. The bank’s 2026 SME Confidence Index shows that every Nigerian small‑and‑medium enterprise surveyed views digital and online payments as essential to growth, with 42 % already accepting online payments and 57 % operating across both physical and digital channels.
Fraud remains a growing threat. Mastercard’s digital‑trust research recorded a 56 % rise in scam‑related website fraud in 2024, while financial losses from scams jumped 121 %. NIBSS data corroborates the danger, reporting that digital‑payment fraud losses fell 51 % to ₦25.85 billion in 2025, yet e‑commerce and internet banking still rank among the most affected channels. Fraud incidents dropped from 123,918 in 2021 to 67,518 in 2025.
To protect themselves, consumers should verify a merchant’s website and contact details before buying, seek independent reviews, and be wary of unusually cheap offers or urgent payment requests. If a seller asks for payment outside a recognised checkout or requests sensitive information through an unfamiliar channel, shoppers should pause and reassess.
Behind the scenes, tokenisation shields card details by replacing the real number with a unique digital token. Over four billion Mastercard transactions are tokenised each month, about 30 % of all Mastercard activity worldwide, with a target of 100 % tokenisation by 2030. This means enhanced security can be achieved without adding extra steps to the checkout.
Convenience features such as saved cards and digital wallets should not lead to complacency. Users are advised to employ strong, unique passwords, enable multi‑factor authentication, keep transaction notifications active, and double‑check merchant, amount and currency before confirming payment. AI’s growing role in personalised shopping also means scammers can create realistic sites and messages, underscoring the need for vigilance and the importance of trusted payment providers.
Mastercard’s Merchant Trust Services combine network intelligence, cyber and identity capabilities with analytics to flag risky merchants while easing friction for verified businesses. Since 2018, the company has invested $10.7 billion in cybersecurity, and its Safety Net technology has prevented $77.4 billion in fraud to date. The new rules of online shopping are simple: know the merchant, protect your information, pay attention to authorisations, and use security‑built payment experiences.
<small>Source: Daily Post Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
