Anambra Man Develops App To Fight Internet Fraud

Worried by rising cases of fraudulent transaction on the internet, a former medical student, Mr Chinonso Okoye from Anambra State has designed an internet application known as ‘The Middle’.

Okoye, a software developer, said his decision to build the application was informed by series of complaints by those making purchases on the internet without their goods being delivered.

Addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Awka, Okoye said he was once a medical student of University of Calabar, Cross River State before abandoning the programme to pursue a career in the Information Communication Technology (ICT).

He described online shops as the easiest means of defrauding people on the internet, regretting that the trend had now posed a challenge to genuine online store operators.

He said, “This is mostly very rampant on Instagram (a social media platform), where fraudulent people now open online shops to advertise goods, and once they get buyers who make financial transfers to them, they close the account and open another.

‘With an App like – The Middle, you can successfully transfer money to an online shop owner, and he will be unable to withdraw the money until you have clicked the certify button, after your goods have been delivered to you.

“I built this app to curb cases of fraud, both on the side of the seller, and on the side of the buyer who may get the goods and refuse to certify the payment.

“In cases like this, the app simply pays the online shop owner after waiting for three days for the buyer to certify the transaction.”

Okoye cited several ugly experiences he has had with shop owners on Instagram, expressing optimism that the app would go a long way to reducing such cases.

He continued, “I was surfing the internet just yesterday, and I say an online shop that advertised very beautiful male underwear at cheap prices, I decided to check who the owner was, and found out it was a girl who had complained to me that she was defrauded of N80,000 by an online shop owner.

“I put a call across to her and asked when she started the business; do you know what she said? She told me she wanted to use it to retaliate what was done to her, and they are many of them like that, but with The Middle, you will never be scammed.”