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You are here Research > Financial Inclusion > A Digital Bridge over Troubled Waters

A Digital Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Strategies for Reducing Non-Institutional Fraud and Building Trust in a Digital Market Platform

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  • Researchers:

    • Michael King , Chaning Jang and Daniel Putman

  • Partners:

    • CoAmana

  • Location:

    • Nigeria

  • Sample:

    • 3,600 small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners

  • Timeline:

    • 2021 - 2023

  • Theme:

    • Digital Security, Consumer Protection

  • Description:

    • The prevalence of fraud in Nigeria makes it hard for MSMEs to distinguish between real communications from digital service providers, and for example, phishing messages from scammers. This leads to a lack of trust in client communications and an unwillingness to use digital services.

      To address this issue, we explore two promising solutions, a Unique Communication Code (UCC) and education on fraud, to ascertain their impacts on susceptibility to non-institutional fraud and trust in, and willingness to use digital financial services.

      Conducted in partnership with Amana Market, a digital platform in Nigeria that offers access to market information and financial service to MSMEs, this study involves an RCT with newly onboarded MSMEs. MSMEs will be randomized at onboarding into one of three groups; a control, an arm provided with a UCC and an arm who will receive ongoing education about fraud. To estimate impact, we will use administrative and endline survey data to measure a range of outcomes around susceptibility to fraud, trust in platforms, and engagement with the platform. Findings from this study will help improve consumer protection and support digital security for Africa’s large and growing platform and financial services sectors.