How to know a fake transfer alert before you release the goods

It is 22:40 on a Friday. The bar is full, three people are waving for the bill, and a customer holds up a phone: "I've sent it." The screen looks right. The amount looks right. You let him go.

On Monday the money is not there.

This is how most fake alert losses happen. The trick does not need to be clever. It only needs a busy counter and someone who would rather not hold up the line. In mid-2025, ThisDay reported that bank fraud losses had reached ₦42.6bn in a single quarter, and that clubs, lounges and restaurants were among the worst hit. Night trade is mostly transfers now, so the exposure is at its highest exactly when you are busiest.

The one rule that stops almost every fake alert

Only your own account counts. Not the customer's screen, not a receipt they forward, not an SMS on your phone. A transfer is real when your balance goes up by the exact amount. Everything else is a claim.

"Never release anything until you confirm the payment." Hammed Ibrahim, chief executive of a security firm, speaking to ThisDay.

Every fake alert method is a way of getting you to accept something other than your balance as proof.

Six signs you are looking at a fake

1. The proof is on their phone, not yours. A screenshot, a "successful" screen or a forwarded receipt can be edited in seconds. Flash fund apps produce screens that look exactly like a bank app's.
2. The SMS arrived, but your balance did not move. A credit SMS can be sent from any number dressed up as your bank's name. Open the app and look at the balance, not the message.
3. The amount is close, not exact. ₦52,000 instead of ₦52,800 is not a rounding error. Match every naira.
4. The money is "coming from another bank" or "the network is slow." Sometimes true. It is also the most common line in a fake alert. Pending is not paid.
5. The customer is in a hurry, or very friendly, or both. Pressure is the tool. A genuine customer can wait a minute.
6. The first transfer "failed" and they want to send it again. You end up with two claims and no money. Wait for one payment to land before anything else happens.

A Lagos POS operator described her loss to ThisDay in one line: "I assumed it was a temporary network issue and allowed him go." The network excuse works because sometimes it is true.

How to check in under a minute

1. Tell the customer the exact total before they pay.
2. Give the account details yourself, from a sign on the counter. Never use details the customer reads out to you.
3. Open the business account on a phone that stays at the till, and refresh.
4. Look for the exact amount and the sender's name, then check that your balance moved.
5. If nothing shows after a minute, move the customer aside politely and serve the next person.
6. Release the goods only when the money is in.

Write this on a card and stick it where your cashier can see it. The step people skip under pressure is step 4.

The real cost is not only the fake alerts

Owners who check every transfer by hand pay twice, even when nobody cheats them:

• Queues. An Abuja retailer told The Whistler customers were "waiting for minutes, sometimes hours just for us to confirm their transfers."
• Genuine failures. "Sometimes, the money leaves the customer's account but we don't receive it," one business owner told Leadership. The customer is honest, your account is empty, and someone has to sort it out.
• One phone, one person. If only the owner or manager can see the account, every transfer waits for them. If everyone can see it, everyone can see your money.
• Arguments. Every "I've sent it" that takes too long becomes a small fight at the counter, in front of other customers.

Checking harder fixes the first problem. It makes the others worse.

How Jollozi takes the guessing out of it

The safest transfer is one your till confirms for you. That is what Jollozi does.

With FlashPay, the payment rail built into Jollozi, the customer approves the payment in their own bank app, and the sale marks itself paid on your till. Nobody looks at a phone screen. Nobody reads an SMS. The cashier sees the sale turn to paid, and moves on to the next customer.

• At the table: guests on Jollozi Table pay the bill from their own phone, and the table shows as paid on the till.
• At the counter: the transfer confirms itself on Jollozi POS, so "I've sent it" is no longer something your cashier has to judge.
• For the owner: you see every payment on the owner app as it lands, from anywhere, without handing your banking app to staff.
• At closing time: the day close lists cash, transfers and card separately, and your cashier counts the drawer without seeing the expected figure first. What was sold equals what was paid, or you know exactly where it doesn't.

Cash and card keep working as they do today. Jollozi also runs offline, so a dropped network does not stop the till.

Stop checking. Start selling.

Try a practice shift on the Jollozi till, with transfers that confirm themselves, at till.jollozi.com/demo.