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OLX introduces OTP for sellers

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 06 Jul 2016
OLX CTO Stephen Ballot hopes making sellers use an OTP will prevent scams on the site.
OLX CTO Stephen Ballot hopes making sellers use an OTP will prevent scams on the site.

Local online classifieds site OLX now requires sellers to use a one-time PIN (OTP) to verify their mobile number, in an effort to prevent scams.

The company will also encrypt all traffic to and from the site, in a move to make trading secure and protect users' private information.

By requiring an OTP, OLX is trying to ensure all sellers have a valid and working South African cellphone number, which are subject to the country's RICA law.

"Mobile operators are compelled to record the identity of the owner of each SIM card before it is activated (following RICA), and to share these records with law enforcement agencies. This aids OLX to effectively deter any suspicious activity," says OLX CTO Stephen Ballot.

"Under RICA, scammers can no longer operate with impunity."

Other online classifieds opt to use e-mail verification, says OLX in a statement, but the company finds this method is outdated and allows for a wide margin of suspicious activity.

"This method is fundamentally flawed because of how easy it is to create multiple, fake e-mail addresses," explains Ballot.

Ballot says the move was also "driven by the fact that everyone with a smartphone can use OLX and we found that a lot of those customers never use e-mail".

Earlier this year, ITWeb reported that online classifieds scams were on the rise, yet many of the cases went unreported to the authorities or the relevant classifieds sites.

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