Important: Luno Naira Deposits and Withdrawals Currently Disabled

As you may be aware, Luno has been unable to process Naira withdrawals since Friday, 31 March.

These are what Luno has to say admist the issue of Nigerians operating their service unable to withdraw cash from their account.

"The reason is that our bank account at Stanbic IBTC, which contains the vast majority of customer funds, has been frozen due to an unforeseen third party issue beyond their control.

All customer funds are safe and accounted for in the account. Right now we are unable to make any payments out of the account until it is unfrozen. For the time being, we ask you to refrain from funding your account with Naira."

WHAT CAN BE DONE IN THE MEANTIME

Naira deposits and withdrawals are currently disabled. All other services, such as buying, selling, trading, sending and receiving Bitcoin remain unaffected.

If you have a pending withdrawal that you’d like to cancel, you can do so by opening the “transactions” screen, tapping on the withdrawal and then pressing the “cancel” button. The NGN amount will then be refunded to your wallet. It is of course still possible to convert NGN to BTC and withdraw BTC.

We have been working on integrating a new debit card payment method through a different bank. We will accelerate this project and hope to enable debit card deposits soon. However, we will still be unable to process withdrawals until the bulk of customer funds in our Stanbic IBTC account are unfrozen.

WHY THE ACCOUNT WAS FROZEN

In short, a fraudster stole the identity of a victim (not a Luno customer) and managed to access the victim’s bank account. The fraudster then created an account at Luno, using the stolen identity, and transferred the victim’s money to Luno and converted it to Bitcoin. Once the victim discovered the theft, they reported it to the police who obtained a court order to freeze Luno’s entire bank account (not just the fraudulent amount).

The police and court were unaware that Luno was a business serving thousands of customers and that blocking the account would affect thousands of people, not just this one individual payment. We believe that this was a huge mistake made by the police and court. We are in the process of fixing it now, but unfortunately due to the bureaucratic processes involved it will take time (more details below).

What we are doing and how long it will take
Since we first discovered this, the victim has withdrawn their case. However, once a court order has been issued, it cannot be simply reversed. We must obtain a new court order to unfreeze the account from a higher court. We are working with our legal team to do this as fast as possible but unfortunately it is a slow and bureaucratic process.

The current estimate for re-activation of the bank account is 3-4 weeks. We are doing everything we can to sort out this problem as quickly as possible."

These are the words from Luno committee to cool off the high tension, hopefully they get back on their feet on-time.

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USSD Codes For Making Transactions For All Banks In Nigeria

Are you looking for a simple way to transfer money, recharge airtime, pay bills from your bank account through mobile phone? if yes.

Here I have compile the USSD transaction codes for all banks in Nigeria.

NOTE: Bank USSD codes only works on mobile number registered with a bank account.

GTBANK USSD Code

To initiate transfers to a GTBank account, simply dial *737*1*Amount*NUBAN Account No# e.g. *737*1*1000*1234567890#

For transfers to beneficiaries in other Bank’s, customers should simply dial *737*2*Amount*NUBAN Account No# e.g. *737*2*1000*1234567890#. Customers will then require the last four digits of their GTBank Naira MasterCard to authenticate each transaction.

The *737* Transfer service is only available to GTBank customers and has minimum transfer limit of N1,000 and a daily transfer limit of N20,000. Your daily limit can be up to N200,000 or more

Fidelity Bank USSD Code

To transfer money from Fidelity bank account to another bank account, simply dial this *770*NUBAN Account number*Amount#; NUBAN Account number is the 10 digit account number issued by any bank.

Example; if you want to transfer N1000 to someone’s Firstbank account, dial *770*1234567890*1000#.

Then select the beneficiary bank Name Access bank, First bank, Diamond bank etc
Enter your transfer PIN to confirm transfer. The recipient account number will be shown to you before you enter your PIN. This lets you verify that you’re not sending money to a wrong account.

If you haven’t used the service before, you will be requested to create one. You can dial *770#, Enter your NUBAN Account number (Fidelity bank account number), Select a 4-digit PIN for your account.

If you have two accounts with Fidelity bank, let say current and saving account and you’re using the same phone number for both account, your current account will be debited first before your savings account.

Transfer per transaction is N10,000. Maximum transfer per day is N20,000

First Bank USSD Code

First bank USSD code allows you to transfer money, pay bills, withdraw money or make purchases.

• To transfer money, simply dial *894# select 1
• To withdraw money, dial *894# and select 2
• To make purchase, dial *894# and select 3
• To pay bills, dial *894# and select 4
• To buy airtime dial *894# and select 5
• To manage account dial *894# and select 7 .

Wema Bank USSD Code

For Wema Bank customers,

• To do a quick FUNDS TRANSFER, dial *945*BeneficiaryAccount*AMOUNT#
• To recharge airtime dial *945*YourNumber#
• To recharge third party dial *945*ThePerson'sNumber*Amount#
• To check account balance dial *945*0#
• To change your pin *945*00#

The Wema Quick USSD Code should only be used with the phone number registered with the bank.

Diamond Bank USSD Code

For Diamond Bank Y’ello account holders, to Transfer money to any bank Dial *710*777*ACCOUNT NO*AMOUNT*PIN#.

For Diamond Y’ello to Diamond Y’ello Transfers Dial *710*710*PHONE NO*AMOUNT*PIN# For other Diamond account holders check options below.

Ecobank USSD Codes

With Ecobank Mobile Banking you can do all your banking on your mobile phone. You can Make instant transfers, Check balances, Pay bills, Read mini-statements, Buy airtime.

Dial *326# to get started

Zenith Bank USSD Code

Zenith Bank’s 966 Mobile Banking allows you to open an account, check balance, load airtime or transfer money to another account.

To create a bank account simply dial *966*0# and follow the onscreen prompts.
To check for balances on any of your accounts, all you need to do is simply dial; *966*00#
To load airtime simply dial *966*Amount*Mobile Number# on your phone

To transfer money to another account
Dial *966*Amount*Account Number# (e.g. *966*1000*1234567890#) from the phone number you registered with Zenith Bank, then follow the on-screen prompts.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) USSD Code

To use FCMB mobile banking service
Dial *389*214#

FCMB Welcome Message is displayed with the following options

1. Activate with card
2. Activate with Account
3. Activate with Mwallet

Choose option 2 by typing 2 and send
Enter your account number
Call Contact Centre on 01-2798800 or visit any FCMB branch to generate your PIN.

Once you get your PIN Dial *389*214# on the phone and click on Security, Select Change PIN to enter your default PIN and enter your new four digits PIN when prompted

Dial *389*214# for subsequent access to FCMB Mobile service

Unity Bank USSD Code

Unity Bank USSD mobile banking gives you secure and fast way to transfer funds to Unity bank accounts and to other bank accounts.

Simply dial *389*215# to get started

Skye Bank USSD Code

Skye Bank USSD mobile banking gives you secure and fast way to transfer funds to Skye bank accounts and to other bank accounts.

Skye Bank USSD mobile banking allows you to make bill payments, check account balance, transfer funds etc hassle-free and conveniently.

Simply dial *833# to get started

Sterling Bank USSD Code

Sterling Bank USSD provides a smarter way of banking using *822#

To get started, just dial *822# on the phone number linked to your sterling bank account and follow the prompts accordingly.

Note that N5 will be deducted from your airtime balance every time you dial the sterling bank ussd code on your phone.

A PIN will also be required to complete transactions via the ussd code. You will get the pin when you register for the Sterling bank *822# service.

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See 5 reasons why Chinese Phones are so cheap

Back in the days when Chinese phones first came into Nigeria newly, all we could reckon with Chinese phones were fake products because we tend to believe Chinese products are made with inferior materials. That time, Nokia phones was majorly the most accepted products in Nigeria, then Chinese came out cloning the Nokia phones most especially the popular Nokia 1280 “Nokia Touch Light”, but what was convincing then was the cheap price of these Chinese products.

Today, Chinese phones are taking the world with its low price and high specs. If you use a Chinese phone you will wonder how well they work with a very fast speed at a cheap rate compared to other manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and Apple etc. Do you think Chinese Manufacturers are giving these phones for charity at such a low rate? Here I will discuss 5 major reasons why Chinese phones are so cheap.

5 REASONS CHINESE PHONES ARE SO CHEAP

1. Cheap Labour force: one of the most common reason why Chinese phones are cheaper is because of easy availability of labourers at low cost. According to Carlos Capistran of Financial Times, China has the second lowest labour costs in the world after Mexico and this is the main reason why a lot of manufacturers build products there.

2. Cheap Marketing Strategy: brands like Oneplus and Xiaomi spends very less on marketing when compared to established phone brands. You won’t find their official stores and service centers rather they sell their smartphones online.

Chinese phones company know how to make use of social network marketing in the Internet. We cannot deny that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, etc. are the most popular social networks that has a large number of followers. As a result, the information about the smartphones can be spread widely if they advertise their products here. Meanwhile, some famous brands such as Samsung, Sony or Apple have to spend million dollars on TV advertising, sponsorship, or hiring celebrities to promote their products.

3. R&D (Research and Development): Tech giants like Apple, Google and Samsung spends crazy amount of money on R&D which is not the case for Chinese phone manufacturers. You won’t find anything new or innovative apart from high specs in Chinese smartphones.

4. High-tech but Revolutionary: one main factor is that Chinese manufacturers don’t do packing of phones with greatest and very latest hardware. They are more focused on balancing the balancing price with performance. If you notice a website selling Chinese phones then you will see smartphones with reasonably high-end specs, but cost a lot less than a Samsung Galaxy S7. Samsung basically uses high quality parts are quite expensive in the market.

A lot of Chinese manufacturers use Mediatek processor, these processors are not upto mark as samsung’s Exynos units and are very cheap in price. Cherry on the cake is that Mediatek is a Chinese company so local distributors get all products at very less price.

Chinese manufacturers done don’t use the latest DDR4 RAM and instead use DDR3 modules. Chinese phones have Japanese or Korean display which is very cheap and of low quality as compared to AMOLED or IPS panels.

5. Limited quantities technique: the best sale method that works in china is creating the demand for product. It is mentality of people that if a certain product will run of sale, they’re more likely to rush to buy. Xiaomi Mi4 is a China made phone and it was exhausted in just 37 seconds on Flipkart.

Conclusion

People used to think that Chinese phones are low on quality but that perception is dead. It is true that China phones are not made of high tech quality but they are also not made of poor quality material.

If you are an android user and don’t want to spend much on smartphone then you should give a look at chinese phones.

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How Smartphone Makers Defraud Nigerian of Their Hard Earn money

Before I start my discussion, I want to say Nigeria is a wonderful country where people suffer yet smile as if all is okay, what I want to share today is a disturbing trend in the Nigeria mobile market that no one is willing to talk about for some few years.

OEM’s has seen Nigeria as a dumping zone where any shady activity is allowed. what do I mean? Now, I have seen a couple of phone makers make a certain phone with 1GB RAM, and then few-months later, they release the same phone with 2GB RAM and add appellations like “Plus, Max, Pro” at the end of the original name. These OEM’s deliberate intention is for Nigerians to dump their new phone to purchase the same phone with re-branded name. Bad!

The United States has a regulatory body called FCC that checks the quality and authenticity of phones coming into their country. Even the highly rated Xaiomi had a tough time entry the U.S market because of the standards the Chinese OEM had to meet.

Over here in Nigeria, the Standard Organization of Nigeria and NCC allows anything into Nigeria, as if our dear country is dumping ground for some of these phones that should be destroyed at the shores of Nigeria.

For other phone makers, they make the two variant, 1GB RAM and 2GB RAM, release only the 1GB version in Nigeria and send the two 2GB version to Kenya and UAE because those countries have a government – This is fraud!

Mobile users in Nigeria must begin to take pro-active steps into ensuring they don’t fall victim of these OEM’s who have only one goal and that is make abnormal profit. If the SON and NCC won’t do their jobs, we have got to do it ourselves.

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How To Know If A Facebook Account Has Being Hacked & How To Recover Account Back

This post is sourced from HOVATEK, you can get the original post Here.

We all know there's virtually no limit to what hackers can do even the almighty Mark Zuckerberg facebook's account was hacked sometime ago and there are many reasons why hackers hijack facebook account maybe to impersonate ones identity or to carry out dubious activities and the rate at which people’s Facebook accounts get hacked / hijacked is on the rise and they are at fault in many cases. I’ve been receiving emails from members asking how to regain control of their compromised Facebook accounts so I thought to put together this brief guide.

How did my Facebook account get hacked?

The most likely way your account got hacked is phishing. Phishing is when you receive an SMS or email from a malicious source (claiming to be Facebook) providing a URL which when clicked, prompts you to supply your Facebook credentials. Using the same password for multiple online accounts could be another cause.

How do I know that my Facebook account has been hacked? 

You would usually be unable to login to your account using your previous credentials or begin seeing strange messages / posts by your account.

How do I regain access to my Facebook account?

• The first thing you should do is change the password to your email account.
• If you notice strange wall posts by your account, its probably some app you granted access to your Facebook account.  Navigate to Settings > Apps and delete any strange App, Website or Plugin on the list.
• If a hacker has locked you out of your account, try using the Forgot password link on the login page to regain access.
• If the password reset code feature gets temporarily disabled because you and the hacker have been at a tug of war then you should now see a link prompting you to temporarily lock your account if you think it has been hacked. You will however need to answer your security question correctly to proceed with account recovery

I regained access to my Facebook account but it got hacked again shortly after. How did this happen? 

One technique a hacker could use to re-hijack your Facebook account is to have added his / her email address under General Account Settings > Account after the first hack. This way, the hacker can initiate a valid password reset using his / her email address already added to your account recovery options. Once you regain access, you should lookout for any strange email address or phone number in your account recovery setting and delete. Also ensure you change your email account’s password.

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Tumblr is Launching Live Video Today

Twitter has Periscope. Amazon has Twitch. Google has YouTube’s live streaming. And Facebook has Facebook Live. Now, Tumblr is getting into live video, too. The company is preparing to launch a new live video feature on its service, beginning tomorrow, which will introduce a series of live broadcasts as well as a user-facing feature that could compete with Facebook Live, among other things.

Currently, Tumblr is cryptically teasing the new addition via promos on the Tumblr blog livevideo.tumblr.com, which was first spotted by David Chartier, who posted a tweet:

Tumblr plans to compete in the fast-crowding live video space, according to a promotional webpage unearthed by Twitter user David Chartier over this past weekend. The page, livevideo.tumblr.com, features a programming schedule and a launch date of June 21st, though the date may not be set in stone. TechCrunchconfirmed today the images are indeed Tumblr advertising material for the new platform. It's unclear how the company's live video ambitions will shape up, and whether it will resemble anything like Facebook Live, Twitter's Periscope, or Amazon-owned Twitch.

Source

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How Chrome Browser Damage Your Laptop Battery Life

We all know Google Chrome is a resource hungry Web browser. But how bad is it compared to the likes of Microsoft Edge and others? Pretty bad actually, if Microsofts very own test is anything to go by.

Microsoft Edge Gives You 70% More Battery Life Compared To Google Chrome
Microsoft has created two tests to measure the power consumption by browsers: the first is a test in a lab-controlled environment measuring typical browsing behavior on popular sites, while the second experiment times how long streaming HD video lasts. Unsurprisingly, Chrome lasts just four hours and 19 minutes on the streaming video test, compared to seven hours and 22 minutes for Microsoft's Edge browser.

Microsoft's lab-controlled tests also show that Chrome, Opera, and Firefox all use more battery power than Edge during an automated cycle of opening sites, scrolling articles, watching videos, and opening new tabs. To further prove Microsoft's point, the company is also releasing aggregated telemetry data from millions of Windows 10 machines that show Microsoft Edge and Firefox are both more power efficient than Google's Chrome browser.

Microsoft is clearly attempting to win people over to Edge, but the company's new browser still lacks some features that you'd find in Chrome and Firefox. Browser extensions aren't available in Edge just yet, but they will launch alongside the Anniversary Update to Windows 10 this summer. Microsoft is also promising even more power-saving enhancements with the Anniversary Update to Edge, thanks to fewer CPU cycles, less memory consumption, and controls on background activity and Flash ads.

Source

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How To Use Your Google Account To Locate Your Missing Android Phone

This post is sourced from HOVATEK, you can get the original post Here.

How To Use Your Google Account To Locate Your Missing Android Phone

There are various applications for locating missing Android phone(s), in this guide we’ll be looking at a way to use your Google account to locate your missing Android phone.

Requirements for tracking

• Location settings must be set to ON
• The phone must have been linked to you google account

How to setup my Android phone to be locate using my Google account?

1. On the phone, navigate to settings > Security and select Location

2. Toggle Location On (or tick the box if that’s how yours appears)

3. Tap Yes when prompted about a security reminder

4. Tap Agree when prompted about improving location accureacy

5. Your phone is all set to be located if lost

How do I locate my missing Android phone using my Google account?
2. Type www.google.com in the address bar then tap Enter (or visit https://www.google.com.ng/android/devicemanager?u=0)
3. In the search bar, type Find my phone, Click “Allow” if prompted

4. Click the Map that appears (with locating your phone)

5. You should now be in Device Manager which will begin attempting to locate your phone

6. Once your phone is located, its Location (and accuracy) will appearon the map

7. Select the device to be located by clicking the dropdown menu

8. To have your missing phone ring, click Ring

9. When prompted, click “Ring” to proceed

10. The phone will begin ringing loudly

11. Click “Enable Lock &Erase” to explore additional options

12. To lock the phone, click “Lock”

13. Supply the password to lock the phone with, your custom message and phone number then click “Lock”

14. The phone will get locked

15. The password you set will be required to unlock the phone

16. If you wish to Wipe your data (incase you have very sensitive information on it) then go back to step 11 and select Erase

17. Click “Erase” to confirm

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GTBank 737 Code! 8 Amazing Things You Can Do On Your Mobile

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), remains firm in its objective to deliver banking products and services tailored to meet the diverse needs of its ever-growing customer base by leveraging technology to make banking faster, safer and more accessible for all customers.

I love using GTBank due to their wonderful banking system and experience. few weeks back, they created a fast and easiest means of generating a Token Code through USSD on a mobile phone for internet banking, which was published here titled "Now You Can Generate GTBank Token Code Via USSD To Complete Online Transcation".

GTBank 737 Code as more than just well rhyming numbers. It’s a simple, smart, and safe way to bank anytime, anywhere and on any device. Imagine if opening an account was as simple as dialing a number from your mobile phone.

Today’s post will be on 8 Things You Can Do With GTBank 737 Code, when you know all these things, you visit the bank less and save yourself the stress of running to the bank every moment you need their service or help and the amazing part, transactions using the 737 take less than a minute to conclude. Irrespective of your status or phone type that you are using, as a GTBank customer, you can perform the below GTBank Transactions via 737 USSD Code at the conform of your bedroom (No airtime or data needed).


1. Opening a GTBank Account
2. Transfer money anywhere in Nigeria
3. Load airtime and/or data on your phone
4. Check your account balance anywhere
5. One time password (OTP)
6. Bill payment
7. Balance Check/Enquiries
8. Internet banking login details

To Open a GTBank Account: 

Simply dial *737*0# and follow the onscreen prompts. An account number will be created automatically and sent to you via SMS.
Account opening forms are NOT required for the signUp process. Once you sign up, look out for your ten-digit account number (NUBAN). You can also use your phone number as your account number at GTBank branches, GTExpress outlets.

To Transfer Funds to GTBank Account: 

Dial *737*1*Amount*NUBAN Account Number# (e.g. *737*1*1000*1234567890#) from the phone number you registered with GTBank, then follow the on-screen prompts.
To Other Banks: Dial *737*2*Amount*NUBAN Account Number# (e.g. *737*2*1000*1234567890#) from your phone, then authenticate the transfer with the last four digits of your GTBank debit card. More detail here...

To Load Airtime on Your Phone: 

Dial *737*amount# and SEND from your mobile phone, e.g. *737*1000#.
To Send Airtime to Family or Friend: Dial *737*Amount*Friends No# and SEND e.g. *737*1000*08012345678#.

To Check for Account Balance on any of your GTB Account: 

Simply dial; *737*6*1# on your mobile phone and follow the on-screen prompts.

One Time Password (OTP): 

You can now generate an OTP using *737*7# to make a quick transaction on-the-go without your banking token. More detail here...

Bill Payment: 

You can pay your StarTimes cable subscriptions with ease, by simply dialing the *737*37*Amount*Decoder Number# e.g.
*737*37*2500*00123456789#. Hoping that GTBank will add others soon.

Balance Check/Enquiries: 

Simply dial *737*6# to make enquiries on the following:
1. Account balances (*737*6*1#)
2. Loan balances (*737*6*2#)
3. Card status (*737*6*3#)
4. Cheque book status (*737*6*4#)

Internet Banking Login Details: 

You can now retrieve your mobile and/or internet banking details without having to go to the banking hall. Simply dial *737*6*5# and follow the on-screen prompt.

That is all for now, enjoy the amazing features of 737 banking and remember to share/like this post with your friends and families.

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