Dr. Joseph France, the Bank of Ghana’s Head of Financial Stability, has cautioned the public against using social media linkages to link their Ghana cards to their bank accounts.
He claims that no bank has advertised the ability for customers to remotely link their Ghana cards and bank accounts.
He explained on JoyNews’ PM Express Business Edition that all Ghana card links to bank accounts must take place in the banking hall, where the client’s biometric information will also be gathered for authentication.
“We also saw on social media that there are people out there who are saying that persons must link their Ghana card to their account through some links and so on so forth. I think we have to say here and now that no bank has put it out there that you should link your bank account to your bank account remotely.
“You necessarily will have to go to the bank to do either your facial or biometric to link your account. You have to be very careful because fraudsters can cash in on that. Apart from getting your Ghana card, the bank will have to verify whether your Ghana card is actually genuine and that is why your biometrics and then your facial is very important and that is why your presence is needed.
“And so we shouldn’t give room so that we can have fraudsters also coming in cashing and taking advantage of the system. Because you’ll never be able to know who has put that link out there,” he said, June 30.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Association of Bankers, John Awuah, added his two cents, saying that if someone received such a link, they should check with their banks first to make sure that the link is indeed coming from the bank or not.
He also advised avoiding links that ask you to enter sensitive information like passwords and PINs since they are bogus.
“Also the point that has to be made is that no bank if it’s doing remote verification or update will ever ask you for your password, or for your pin number or for any type of credential that enables you to securely log into the system. No bank will ask you,” he said.
Beginning July 1, however, anyone who has not connected their Ghana Cards to their bank accounts will not be able to withdraw money from their accounts until they have done so.
However, they would be permitted to keep adding money to their accounts until the connectivity is complete.
On the other hand, Ghanaians who live abroad and in diplomatic missions would be able to access their accounts using their passports.