I’ll commit suicide if Zenith bank doesn’t reverse N4m fraudulent withdrawal — Lady

A Lagos-based unemployed lady, Chiamaka Agim, who claims to be a former employee of Zenith Bank Plc, tells  how over N4m was ‘fraudulently’ debited from her Zenith Bank account on January 9, 2023, without her authorisation, and her fight to get the money back

You claimed that over N4m was fraudulently withdrawn from your Zenith Bank account. How exactly did it happen?

I should be asking Zenith Bank how it happened. It is in the bank that my money was lodged and it is in that same bank, under their watch, that my money was fraudulently stolen, and they have not given me a satisfactory response as to how they will refund the money I kept in their care. It happened on January 9, 2023, at about 8.43pm. I got a debit alert, first to an Access Bank account. It was N3.7m, transferred from my account to the Access Bank account. I was confused because I knew I never authorised such transactions. I couldn’t have done such a transaction in the first place. That money is my life’s savings. Why will I transfer it to an unknown Access Bank account just like that? It does not add up. I want to state it clearly that I didn’t authorise that transaction. Before I would know what was happening, I got another alert of N222, 900 in a space of just one minute. I was trying to go into my mobile app to check what was happening when I saw the alert sent to the same Access Bank account where the first N3.7m was illegally transferred to.

It was not even up to another minute, I got another debit alert of N102, 000 to a UBA account. Everything withdrawn was over N4m. What was left in my account was about N12, 900.

What did you do next?

I couldn’t even breathe well. I couldn’t think. In a space of five minutes, my entire life’s savings were wiped off. I don’t know who did this and I don’t know how it happened but I am begging Zenith Bank to refund my money.

Have you visited the bank?

I visited the bank the following day and I don’t know what they are saying. They are telling me what I don’t understand. They said I authorised a token and something of the like, but I have never authorised any token of any sorts on my Zenith Bank account. I have visited Access Bank as well to trace the transaction and they told me that the money had been ‘moved’. By ‘moved’, they mean the money had left the account.

The point is that I am an ex-staff (member) of Zenith Bank. I worked with their Apapa branch. The account in question was a staff account opened by the bank to pay my salaries and other emoluments. Zenith Bank should just return my money. N4m cannot be fraudulently taken from my account and they are telling me that it is gone like that. It is not possible. I won’t have it. They have to refund my money. I don’t have any other money anywhere. I don’t have any other bank account anywhere. That is my entire life’s savings that has just been wiped off in a twinkle of an eye.

Did you at any point misplace your ATM card or your phone?

My ATM card and my phone are here with me. I didn’t misplace them.

Did you at some point authorise any online transaction?

I don’t shop online at all. I don’t even use Apple Music, which is for iPhone users. That is how badly I avoid online transactions. The bank is claiming that my daily limit is N200, 000. If this is so, how will they process a transaction of over N4m without following the proper channel? Why will they authorise that transfer without my express consent and authorisation? Is this not fraud? I am begging Zenith Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria to help me get my money back?

When you went to Zenith Bank, what exactly did they say you should do?

I said I was not given any token by Zenith Bank. If they claim that that I used a token, they should provide evidence where I signed a token form or where I requested a token. There is no such record. It is obvious this was done by an insider in the bank.

Have you reported the case to the police?

I have not done that. I am waiting for legal advice. Punch