The rise in unsuspecting bank depositors from whose accounts various sums of money were mysteriously or fraudulently withdrawn has become a great cause for concern. Aside from monies leaving bank accounts without authorisation from account holders, another disturbing trend is that of strange withdrawals when debit cards are stuck in Automated Teller Machines (ATM). Even so, the question of how commercial banks exert multiple and indiscriminate charges and deductions from depositors accounts, will perhaps be addressed some day. National Waves captured the story of a Nigerian lady from whose First Bank account domiciled in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, N68 million was fraudulently withdrawn.
Glory Omokaro who is based in Italy recounted her ordeal when she appeared on a popular Radio Programme, in Abuja, the Brekete Family. Omokaro said she travelled to Italy in 2005 and returned in 2013 to visit her family. Within this period, she opened a savings account with First Bank at the Ring Road Branch in Benin City.
On travelling back to Italy according to her, she deposited some money into the First Bank account, and was in touch with the branch manager, one Mr. Gabriel.
In 2018, during another visit to Nigeria, Omokaro said she subscribed to the bank application to enable her to track her transactions from Italy.
She also applied for a debit card, which she used to perform transactions during her stay in Nigeria. When her ATM card expired 2021, she reportedly contacted Mr. Gabriel to help renew her debit card.
However, the manager she said, gave her the option of sending someone or coming in person to renew the card. But due to Covid-19 restrictions, Omokaro further explained, she could not return.
To her surprise, when she returned in May 2023 and visited the bank to make withdrawals and renew her card, she was told that she had no money in her account. “I met customer care and I was told that I only have N3,000 in my account and not N68m.”
She said she requested for the bank statement, but the bank declined to release the statement to her. On account of that, she got her lawyer to write a letter of requesting for the statement and it was released a week later.
“We discovered that on 13, October 2022, they moved N51. 7m out of the account. They returned the money. We suspected that they were checking if she would complain. But she did not notice. After 24 days around November 2022, they withdrew three times from the account. The first was N9m, then N5m, N2m and another N2m until it was left with N3,000.
“We contacted EFCC. They said they were only after Yahoo boys for now. We contacted the DSS and they declined. The lawyer also started behaving as though he was compromised.”
In response to the alleged fraud, First Bank admitted that N68m belonging to an Italy-based customer, Glory Omokaro was withdrawn from her account.
First Bank said, “We confirm the report of fraudulent activity on the account of one of our customers. This incident has been undergoing a very robust investigation since our receipt of the customer’s complaint with the goal of holistically unearthing what transpired and addressing the challenge, including satisfying the customer. Unfortunately, this has taken longer than anticipated.
“While the investigation is ongoing, we have repaired the customer’s account given the findings so far and our view that this is the best action in consideration for our customer. We regret any inconveniences this may have caused the customer and wish to emphasize that this incident is in no way reflective of the principles and ethics of our time-tested operations.”
Last month TheNigeriaLawyer reported how A bank customer has accused Zenith Bank of unauthorized withdrawals of 1.7 million naira from his account after his ATM card got stuck in the bank’s machine.
A distraught lady in a viral video narrated how the card of ‘Emma’ was seized by the Zenith Bank ATM on Awolowo Road, Ikeja when he tried to make use his GT Bank ATM Card to withdrawal.
She went on to recount how immediately he put his ATM Card in the machine, the card was seized as Emma could not retrieve it again.
The seizure of his card took another unexpected twist when he began to receive series of unapproved and unrequested debits from same account and everything amounted to 1.7 Million Naira.
According to her, all attempts to block the card so as to halt the withdraw spree ended in the futility.
She accused both Zenith Bank and GT Bank of culpability in the illegal act and described them as thieves.
TheNigeriaLawyer noted that the complaint once again raises concerns about the integrity of Nigeria’s banking sector players and emphasizes the need to better regulation of banks to prevent the arbitrary exploitation of customers who are subjected to sharp practices by these banks.
“Many tagged Zenith Bank fraudsters while calling for the customer to be fully reimbursed. This is just one of many instances where bank customers have fallen victim to dubious activities.
Proper oversight is required to ensure banks establish complaint resolution systems and compensate victims. The integrity of the financial sector depends on accountability for such unethical conduct.”
Credits: National Waves/TheNigeriaLawyer
