IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – A Nigerian lady on Twitter identified as @fashionjuel, has raised alarm after 6million naira was withdrawn from her Zenith bank account in the early hours of Friday.
The tweep is calling on Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to help her investigate the fraudulent transaction carries out in her bank account.
She tweeted: “I’m calling on @cenbank @fccpcnigeria to help me investigate a fraudulent transaction that took place in my Zenith account in the early hours of the 21st of October, 2022, thereby withdrawing a total of 6m naira from my account in the space of about 15 minutes.
“I had woken up at about past 1am hoping to join the #hallelujahChallenge when I discovered this. All my savings. Everything I had worked for several years, the porosity of the bank.
“On the 21st of October, 2022, I got to the bank at some minutes before 9am and the unprofessionalism of the bankers put me off. I was passed from one manager to the next until I was passed to this lady here. She kept me waiting for 35 minutes before she told me…
“She told me the banks fraudulent team were working on it and that I should go. Go??? These people portrayed a non-Chalant attitude and I can’t let it slide. @ZenithBank , what sayest thou??!!!”
The recent complaint, which put Zenith on top of Twitter’s trend table on Friday, is part of the series of fraudulent cases that have characterized Nigeria’s banking industry in the past few years.
The post has triggered severe backlash targeting not only the bank but also the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the financial sector regulator, for its inability to sanitize the growing rot in the banking industry.
The CBN’s insouciance toward the matter is believed to have emboldened the banks to be lax with depositors’ hard-earned money.
Reacting to her tweets, several Nigerians have shared their own ordeal with their respective banks.
A tweep, Pearly, said: “I also got a debit too, through a pos when I don’t have an ATM card. They said they are investigating. I’m patiently waiting for them. 60k debit through a pos when I don’t have an atm card on the account.”
@nature_natured advised bank consumers to stop using their main bank account ATM card to withdraw money via POS.
“STOP USING YOUR MAIN BANK ACCOUNT ATM CARD TO WITHDRAW MONEY VIA POS.
“Use ATM CARD that doesn’t have much money in it for random transactions or withdrawals. You can always transfer from your main account to your other account if you want to us all these RANDOM POS MACHINES.”
@olasamzi disagrees with the tweep and said: “All this doesn’t matter o. My dad does not have ATM card they withdrew 500k from his account and still withdraw 500k from his fixed deposit. You see the fixed deposit withdrawal is still an unsolved mystery for us till today.”
@prosealnigeria wrote: “@ZenithBank is ruining businesses and lives with this terrible fraud going on in their bank. Last year the same thing happened to our business, people should stop using Zenith Banks for the safety of their money.”
Treasures of Light, another Twitter user, had a similar experience with Access Bank.
He tweeted: “@myaccessbank over 6m Naira was fraudulently transferred out from my account when I was outside Nigeria in 2020, @myaccessbank returned half of the money,160k and 120k respectively.”
@colekalu also reacted: “I had exact experience in February this year twice this year. They usually do very early in the morning between 1am to 4am.”
Twitter commentator, Daniel Regha, on his part, called on the bank to kindly look into it and do the needful.
“Sorry to hear about ur unpleasant experience. @ZenithBank kindly look into this ASAP & do the needful; Lots of people have shared a similar experience but ur management has done nothing to put an end to this reoccurring problem. Why? This is ru!ning the bank’s image,” he tweeted.
In 2021, four Nigerian deposit money banks; Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, and Wema Bank – collectively lost a total of N1.77 billion to fraudulent activities involving the banks’ employees and consumers, according to the 2021 financial statements of the banks.
With the rot fast-spreading, the distrust in the banks among Nigerians is increasing.