For anyone who has been shown a fake alert
How to take bank transfers without chasing screenshots
Why the screenshot habit costs more than it looks, how to tell a real credit from a convincing image, and how to set transfers up so nobody has to check anything.
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A screenshot is a picture, not a payment
Almost every Nigerian business takes bank transfers, and almost all of them do it the same way: read out the account number, wait, look at a screenshot, release the goods. It works until the day it does not, and the day it does not is usually a busy one.
The problem is not that people are dishonest. It is that a screenshot proves nothing, so somebody has to verify it, and verifying it properly takes longer than anyone has during a rush.
What it really costs
The hidden price of the screenshot habit
The fraud is the obvious cost. The rest are quieter and add up to more.
Someone has to check
Every transfer takes a person out of serving, into the banking app, and back. At ten transfers a day that is a job nobody was hired for.
The queue waits for the network
The alert arrives when it arrives. Meanwhile the counter is blocked by a customer who has genuinely paid and a member of staff who cannot yet prove it.
Nothing says what it was for
A credit of ₦12,000 with a random narration does not tell you which order it paid for. That is the work you are doing at closing time.
Part payments multiply it
Half in hand, half by transfer, and now one sale has two records that have to be found again later.
Staff carry the risk
If a bad transfer comes out of someone's pay, you have built a system where the cashier is the fraud department. That is unfair, and it does not work.
Refunds get awkward
A transfer sent to the wrong account, or twice, has to be sent back manually, with the customer waiting and no record connecting the two.
If you must take transfers by hand
Five habits that catch most bad alerts
Not perfect, but far better than looking at an image and nodding.
Trust your own alert, not their screen
The only thing that matters is what shows in your account. A screenshot from their phone, however convincing, is an image file. Check yours, every time.
Look at the balance, not the alert
A credit alert can be faked. A balance that has gone up by the right amount is much harder to argue with, and it takes the same five seconds.
Read the timestamp and the sender
Most fake alerts are last week's real transfer with the numbers edited. A date that does not match today, or a sender name that does not match the customer, is the tell.
Ask for a narration you choose
Give the customer a short reference to type, ideally the order number. It makes the credit self-explaining when you reconcile.
Agree the rule before the rush
Nothing leaves until it shows in the account. Written on the wall if necessary. The argument you will have once is cheaper than the losses you will have repeatedly.
The better shape
What changes when the payment is attached to the order
Confirming
- Today
- Read the screenshot, check the app
- With TAB
- The order shows as paid
Nobody is interpreting anything. The order either has a payment against it or it does not.
Knowing what it was for
- Today
- A credit with a random narration
- With TAB
- A credit joined to a basket
This is the difference between a bank statement and a sales record.
Closing time
- Today
- Match alerts to a notebook
- With TAB
- Read the figure
If every payment arrived attached to an order, the close is a reading rather than an investigation.
Who carries the risk
- Today
- Whoever was at the counter
- With TAB
- Nobody has to judge
Staff should not be the last line of defence against an edited screenshot.
Where TAB fits
One mention, then you can go
In TAB the customer pays by card or bank transfer from their own phone, and the payment attaches itself to the order rather than arriving as a screenshot for somebody to check. Collections settle to your bank account the next day as one figure that matches what you closed on. If you would rather keep taking transfers by hand, the five habits above still stand.
Questions we get
The ones worth answering plainly
- How can I tell if a bank transfer alert is fake?
- Do not look at the customer's screen at all. Check your own account, look at the balance rather than the alert, and confirm the amount, the timestamp and the sender name. Most fake alerts are a genuine older transfer with the figures edited.
- Should I release goods before the transfer lands?
- No, and the rule needs to exist before the busy hour rather than during it. Nothing leaves until the credit shows in your account. Staff cannot be expected to judge an image under pressure.
- Why do transfers take so long to show up?
- Inter-bank transfers can lag at busy times, and the alert can arrive later than the credit. Check the balance rather than waiting for a notification, because the balance updates when the settlement does.
- How do I know which order a transfer paid for?
- Ask the customer to type a reference you give them, ideally the order number. Better still, take the payment on the order itself so the two are joined and there is nothing to match afterwards.
- Is it safer to take card payments than transfers?
- Safer in the sense that a card authorisation is confirmed by the gateway rather than by someone reading a screenshot. The real improvement is not card over transfer, it is having any payment attach itself to the order automatically.
Think TAB might help?
Tell us what you run and we will say plainly whether it fits, including when it does not.
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