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I joined Bank Alfalah in July 2025. One of the first task, I was assigned, was to sell Alfalah Prepaid Card. Not a credit card but a prepaid card. Two questions are raised. 1. why the hell is a bank making prepaid cards (a pre-loaded card)? and 2. Is this a scam or not?

I have never seen or experienced a bank that spends a large budget to make low-quality, inexpensive and unmarketable cards. In my personal experience, none of my clients feel compelled to use a prepaid card for their everyday expenditures.

There are two reasons for such an agenda. 1. Our CDO, Yahya Khan, a brilliant guy, is one of the pioneers of prepaid card revolution. He was the CEO of Easypaisa (a highly successfull prepaid card spinoff). So, it’s natural for him to propound the same ideas that brought him prior accolades. 2. The SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) has an agenda to move Pakistan economy to a cashless society. This is good to modernize the economy and curb the flow of black-money.

So why am I complaining? Because there is literally no market for this product and it’s a low-quality instrument. Bank Alfalah (ALFA) is a good bank. It’s the off-spring of BCCI bank (a legendary bank of Pakistan that was closed down due to foreign influence). But there toy products aren’t holding up to the company’s brand and standard.

Personally, I would never use the ALFA prepaid card or advise anyone to do so. If you are affliated with such a bank, it’s 10 times better to make an actual card (credit or debit card). It’s the international standard and it’s security is globally recognized. ALFA prepaid card is made by folks who don’t know software, let alone banking. These are the following core issues:

  1. There is no market for this product: I personally have made more then 700+ of these cards for my clientele. No one is interested in using them. Why? Because there is no market for a toy card. People with money use actual cards. The poor people, do fine with cash. Note: cash is king.

  2. ALFA prepaid card profit is in negatives: I don’t have the actual data regarding the cost and profit analysis of the prepaid card, but as I heard from my peers, the product is in loss. It’s operating cost is higher then the actual in-flow of cash. Further, the cashback is based on the float income which is never stable. If the customers don’t put money in the card, then there is no revenue. No revenue leads to no interest. Therefore, the product profits are below 0.

  3. The application runs on React: This is the worst choice to base a banking application on React ecosystem. React is a legacy technology. It’s been duct-taped and stitched together, to be functional for modern web. React is slow, unreliable, and a burden for the current developers. The application is garbage. This is a further red flag.

  4. There is no security measures: Everyone who uses this card must first sign up through their NIC and mobile number. This data remains on the server in a .txt file. There is no encryption mechanism or a way to make the private data discreet. Anyone who has an access to the server, can read the data and stalk the customer.

  5. There is no helpline: The Eatsy team didn’t bother to create a helpline service to resolve customer’s issues. If the client doesn’t get his cashback or the card stops working, then he/ she is left to his wits. The customer ends up choking the merchant and breaking the restraunt’s window. This is unprofessional and bad policy model.

Lastly, Is this all a scam? Kind of. Scam is defined as the illegal activity to sell product B, when the client paid for product A. Further, the scam works with the affirmation of the client. (The client is persuaded to divulge his/ her private information and fooled to buy a low-quality product). Geohotz has a great video that explains the method to spot a scam enterprise. It’s not that the management is sitting in closed- dark rooms and plotting to deceive the clients, but their policies and ignorance of client’s satisfaction is alarming. There are restraunts listed on the application that don’t even take the prepaid card. Many times, the user doesn’t get the required cashback. The sms text alerts, regarding the cashback, appears out of sync. And the amount of cashback, per restraunt, is never displayed on the app. If this doesn’t seem as a scam then I don’t know what is.

I predict the ALFA prepaid card will be a big failure and the upper management will pull the plug once they see the actual auditing reports. The only question remains is when?