TechCabal Daily – What happened to Rubies?

The what: For four weeks, customers of the Nigerian digital bank, Rubies were unable to send money on the app or use the bank’s USSD code to complete transactions. 

The why: The bank explained to its customers that it had trouble with the Nigeria Central Switch (NIBBS). NIBBS is where transactions in the country are settled to their final recipients.

The full story is that Rubies, alongside 12 other financial institutions, were reportedly kicked off the Central Switch by the Central Bank of Nigeria. 

The complex story has its roots in the CBN’s policy barrage aimed at stabilizing the Naira by first forcing international money transfer companies to settle all inflows in dollars. When IMTOs found a way to circumvent that policy, the CBN banned their activities in December 2020.

Errr, how does this concern Rubies? The thinking is that Rubies helped IMTOs settle some of their transactions in Nigeria in Naira and so the CBN may have flagged them for this. 

However, the bank says that it has submitted itself to an audit by the CBN and so far, no wrongdoing was established. 

Small mercies: As a licensed deposit-taking bank, Rubies customers funds are insured. And because it has a microfinance licence with funds domiciled at a commercial bank, it has been able to refund customers. 

Read more: How the CBN knocked Rubies digital bank offline

Two weeks ago, I tweeted, “Increasingly, I’m finding handles for Nigerian banks that are fake and always respond to people’s legitimate complaints. The end game is trying to get people’s card information.

It often seems painfully obvious if you’re social media savvy but I’m certain people fall for it.”

Yesterday, that thought moved further forward after a bunch of people sent me direct messages detailing how handles posing as support staff for Nigerian banks asked for private information and drew money from their accounts. 

Here’s a tip: Please double check whenever you get a response on Twitter from a bank’s handle. The dead giveaway is that your bank’s handle will always be verified and will not be something like: Fcm12jwk. 

What’s coming: I’ve had several interesting conversations on how the scammers are managing to get away with fleecing hundreds of people every other week. Look out for my exhaustive article on it next week and remember, don’t provide personal information to an unverified bank handle on Twitter.