By Our Correspondent
A customer with the first bank of Nigeria has petitioned the Ogun State Commissioner of Police over the alleged illegal withdrawal of about three million naira from his first bank account by people suspected to be fraudsters.
The customer who is a former Vice Chancellor of a foremost university in Ogun State, wrote through his counsel, Barrister Beckley Charles in a letter dated 8th February, 2022, called for thorough investigation and unraveling those behind the fraudulent act.
Narrating how the whole episode played out, the Don stated in the petition that he and his wife planned a business trip to South Africa in December, 2021 and needed the PTA.
"I sought the guidance of the Branch Manager First Bank, Abeokuta 2. She asked my wife and I to come to the branch and fill the application forms with the requirements, Passport; Visa and evidence of deposit of the fund, which we did. She promised to call us after approval for the PTA.
"I called the Branch Manager on the 4th day after the application was filed, she told me she was expecting approval from the Headquarters. On the 6th day, I called in the morning to indicate that after 3pm, I would seek PTA in another bank.
"After 3pm, I visited GTB, applied for the BTA wth the same set of documents, and within 24 hours, I was asked to come for the PTA with the required fund.
"It was then I visited the First Bank to ask the Manager to process the transfer of N1.5 million (from my N3 million) to GTB. It was in the process that she told me, 'Sir, you don't have enough fund in your account, you only had N1.2 million, I was in disbelief: I said, "but you know I have over N3 million. It was at that point, she said "Ah, Ah, come and See.... your account has been hacked, and so many withdrawals, and transfers, Ah, Ah.
"My wife still had no approval from the first Bank. We had to go to the Branch Manager to find out what is happening to her 7-day old application. Because she said she was still expecting approval, I called my Customer Care Officer in the
Headquarters who was surprised and sought to speak with the Branch Manager, After a few seconds, that one told me she had asked the Branch Manager to send one information to her and that we should, wait for approval. In less than 30 minutes the approval came
"My friend had also transferred N1.5 million for the PTA of my wife. The Branch Manager asked my wife to come back the next day for the PTA i.e the day before we travelled. When my wife got there, she said, 1 am sorry we don't have any dollars'. So for about 8 days of holding over N3 million in my account, and filling all
necessary papers the Branch Manager did not seek approval and did not make one dollar available for me and my wife.
"The N3 million was just held until hacked and stolen.
"My further analysis reveals that the First Bank negligence and disregard of routine practices of the bank facilitated the violent attack on my account and the withdrawals as follows
DIsregard of the use of Token:
First Bank gave me a Token to be used in any transaction exceeding N500,000 in any day. Though the token remains with me, and was not used,
First Bank allowed over N600,000 on 23/11/2021 to be withdrawn, without the use of Token, over N800,000 on 24/11/2021 to be withdrawn, without the use of Token
3.Withdrawal of N400,000 from the account after it had been deactivated for over 10 days.
He state further that "the Manager told me that the account would be closed as soon as she (who first informed me of the fraud) found out and that the ATM card could not be used again, and that I had to apply for a new debit card. The process was started. I filled the form before going on a trip abroad. On arrival, about 11 days later, I met the
Manager for cash of N50,000.
"The Manager obliged with a counter withdrawal form which was filled and N50,000 was given. Three hours later, a debit alert of N400,000 came in to my phone, the transfer was again to a Wema Bank Account.
"If this is not negligence, it is either an internal job or a collusion with outsider hackers.
The customer through his counsel in the petition said the matter "is a case of hacking into my client's account at the First Bank and stealing from there almost Three Million Naira (N3,000,000) which my client believed to be an insider fraud within the bank
"Sir, we have strong believe that the perpetration of the said fraud in the bank is internal and going by the suspicious role played by the manager, we cannot but believe that she had knowledge that what happened in the bank was internal.
Meanwhile, Salient gathered that already the Bank Manager had been invited by the police to give an insight into what transpired.
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