The bank in a statement issued by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr Isaac Okoroafor said Nigerians in the Diaspora stand the risk of being defrauded by the illegal operators.
The statement reads in part, “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to the increasing patronage of illegal Money Transfer Operators by Nigerians in the Diaspora for the purpose of home remittances.
“These unscrupulous operators, who lure unsuspecting customers with ridiculous exchange rate, use Naira accounts opened in local banks ostensibly for legal business to pay out the proceeds to the beneficiaries while channeling the foreign currencies to fund the parallel market.
“This practice has led to non-reporting of such transactions to relevant authorities thereby undermining effective surveillance of the sector as well as leading to discrepancies in statistics on the transactions between countries of origin of remittance and the destination country, Nigeria.”
The CBN in the statement urged Deposit Money Banks to ensure painstaking conduct of “Know Your Customers’ Business” in order to prevent the use of accounts for illegal transactions and avoid regulatory sanctions.
The apex bank added that such accounts, when discovered, would be blocked and the operators handed over to appropriate law enforcement agencies for prosecution.
SOURCE: http://punchng.com/cbn-warns-patronage-illegal-money-transfer-operators/
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