Touchaheart Nigeria reports that on the 27th of February, 2023, a banker in Lagos discovered that N800,000 had mysteriously disappeared from her Access Bank savings account.
What surprised her the most was that she used her app to pay an Uber driver a few hours before her money vanished and the money remained in tact.
The banker, who requested anonymity, told FIJ she quickly reviewed her app history to see what might have happened before realizing an unauthorized web transaction had been made on her account.
According to her;
“My money was transferred to one Akanni in Ibadan, a place I didn’t visit. What is shocking is that I have not used my ATM card since January 2022, yet N800,000 vanished from my account without the bank sending a one-time password,” she told FIJ.
She claimed to have contacted Access Bank via Instagram to ask for assistance in resolving the problem, but the bank is yet to respond. She then sent them an email and visited one of their branches but all these have proved futile.
She said;
“I also sent them an email and visited a branch of the bank, but up till now, no one from the bank has told me anything. N800,000 is too much to lose,” she said.
FIJ sent a message to Abdul Imoyo, the spokesperson for Access Bank, but he had not responded at press time.
This is not the first time an Access Bank customer has been subjected to mysterious or fraudulent actions by the bank with no assurance of the situation being rectified, thereby inconveniencing said customer for however long it may take to rectify the situation if at all it is rectified.
Another customer had N1.7m deducted from his account after his card was withheld by an Access Bank ATM machine.
Businessman Mr. Mutiu Arojo, who is based in Abuja, described how Access Bank informed him that he was charmed after N1.7 million disappeared from his account.
Arojo informed FIJ that while his debit card was jammed in one of the bank’s automated teller machines (ATMs) in Dei Dei Market, Abuja, money was taken from his account.
“On July 28, I was at the Access Bank branch to make some withdrawal,” he told FIJ.
“The machines were not dispensing, and I kept trying them one after the other because I needed cash.”
Arojo said on his last attempt, his debit card got stuck in the machine and before he could reach the officials to complain, he began to receive debit alerts.
“I moved to the fourth machine, but my card got stuck while I attempted to withdraw,” he told FIJ.
“While I was still there pondering what to do, my account was emptied in tranches of N370,000, N400,000, N500,000, and another N500,000.”
The businessman said he immediately went into the banking hall to complain but was told he might have been charmed.
“I went into the banking hall to complain to the officials but they said I must have compromised my details,” said Arojo.
“They said the person behind me must have peeped at my card details. I asked to see the CCTV footage, and when I did, the person was in no way close to me.
“When I insisted that none of what they suggested happened, they concluded that I must have been charmed.
“How would the person behind me use my debit card details while still stuck in their machine? And how do you explain to the government that you were charmed? It’s all illogical!”
After exerting increased pressure on the bank, Arojo stated, they informed him that his money had been transferred to Moniepoint.
“When I didn’t stop disturbing Access Bank, they told me my money was transferred into Moniepoint. I have never heard of such, and neither do I know them,” he said.
“The N1.7 million was for a contract I got a day before the incident. My life has been in turmoil since it happened.”
The Abuja resident said he reported the incident to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) but got no response.
“In August, I reported to the CBN but didn’t get a response. I also sent a reminder on November 24, all to no end.
“My life is in distress and I just want a refund.”
FIJ’s email to Access Bank on Friday morning was yet to be responded to at press time.
All Access Bank customers should be careful with their transaction activities and be sure to raise an alarm immediately if they notice any strange activities. Not only has the Bank’s network been extremely terrible, with customers having to wait very long before receiving payments/credit alerts, but monies have also reportedly vanished from various accounts without a trace.
Customers should therefore ensure that their account balance is intact from time to time to ensure that they notice any ‘vanishing acts’ in time. It is rather unfortunate that Access Bank customers have to go through ridiculous inconveniences, especially during these times when they have to depend on bank transactions due to the ‘New Naira Note’ Policies.
