Security you can reach when your phone is gone.
Most account protection assumes you still have the device it was set up on. The moment that stops being true is exactly when you need it most. This page explains what VeriPay does about that, and what it does not do yet.
The freeze does not need your phone number.
If someone takes over your phone number, the usual recovery path collapses: every code, every confirmation, every reset link goes to the person holding your line. VeriPay’s freeze is built so that it does not sit behind your number at all.
To freeze, you need an identifier and your PIN. The identifier can be your WhatsApp number or the email you linked to the account. If you linked an email, you can freeze from any device, on any network, without the SIM.
To unfreeze, you need that same identifier, your BVN, and your PIN. Unfreezing deliberately asks for more than freezing does — stopping your account should be fast, and restarting it should not be.
A frozen account cannot send transfers, pay bills or move money out. You do not need to reach support, and you do not need to wait for office hours.
- Freeze
- WhatsApp number or linked email, plus your PIN.
- Unfreeze
- The same identifier, plus your BVN, plus your PIN.
- Reachable from anywhere
- WhatsApp, or this website. The web portal exists precisely so that losing the phone does not lock you out of protecting the account.
Linking an email is optional, and it is what makes the phone-independent path possible. If you have not linked one, the freeze still works — but it will need your WhatsApp number.
What this does not do yet
VeriPay does not currently detect a SIM swap on its own. The freeze is designed so that a compromised number does not stop you acting — that is a different thing from noticing the compromise for you. Automatic SIM-swap detection is being worked on and is not built.
Scam checking is also something you start, not something that runs on every transfer automatically. If you want a number, account or link checked, you have to ask.
Every transfer is risk-scored before it moves.
- Scored low, medium or high
- Every transfer and bill payment is risk-scored as it is made. High-risk transactions are held for a member of staff to review before any money moves.
- Structuring detection
- Repeated transactions deliberately kept just under a review threshold are flagged — on the sending side and the receiving side both.
- Mule-pattern detection on deposits
- An account taking money from many unrelated sources and cashing out unusually fast gets flagged. It is measured against that account's own normal pattern, not a fixed number, so a legitimately busy crypto vendor is not caught by volume alone.
- Deposit and balance limits
- Daily deposit limits and maximum balance caps apply per KYC tier, enforced as money comes in.
OnlineHeld for review
This one is outside your normal pattern, so a member of staff is checking it before it goes out. Nothing has left your balance.
Check something before you pay it.
Anyone can check whether a bank account, phone number or link has been reported as a scam by the VeriPay community. You do not need an account to check. Registered users can also file reports of their own.
VeriPay can also look at a suspicious link shared in chat and tell you whether it shows warning signs, and can examine a photo of an invoice or document for visible signs of tampering.
Both of these are worded carefully on purpose. A community report is a reason to slow down, not proof of guilt, and a link analysis reports warning signs rather than declaring certainty. VeriPay will not tell you something is definitely safe.
OnlineShows warning signs
This link has patterns often used in scams. That is not proof it is fraudulent, but do not enter your PIN or BVN on it.
If a payment goes wrong, a person looks at it.
You can file a dispute from the chat. You pick a category, describe what happened, and attach a photo as evidence if you have one.
A member of staff reviews it. Where the dispute is upheld, the refund is credited back to your VeriPay wallet.
Failed transfers do not need a dispute at all — when a transfer fails, the money returns to your balance automatically.
- You file it
- Category, reason, and an optional photo, all in the chat.
- Staff review it
- A person reads the dispute and the evidence attached to it.
- Upheld disputes are refunded
- The refund goes back to your wallet.
The rest of the account controls.
- Changing your PIN signs everything out
- When you change your PIN, existing sessions are invalidated automatically. Anyone who was already in is out.
- Moving to a new number takes 48 hours
- You can move an account to a new phone number entirely. The new number has to be verified as reachable before the change is accepted, and the old number stays read-only for a 48-hour transition window.
- Deleting an account is reversible for 30 days
- Account deletion has a 30-day recovery window before it becomes permanent and irreversible.
- Linked accounts are told that, never what
- If you link your account with someone you trust, they are told an account was frozen. They are never told your balance, your transactions or who you paid. Both sides must accept the link, and either side can undo it alone.
- Staff access to your BVN or NIN is logged
- Every time a member of staff decrypts a customer's BVN or NIN, that access is recorded for audit.
OnlineLocked out entirely?
If you have lost access to the account itself, recovery is a transaction-history quiz plus a photo of a government ID, reviewed by staff before anything is restored. The help page walks through what that involves.