Esther Udoh, a Lagos-based research chemist has detailed how N6 million vanished from her Zenith Bank account without initiating any transaction.
Despite calling the bank to block the card, Udoh, who also deals in fabric business, said the “scam” took place in six phases in the dead hours of Friday.
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“I woke up at past 1 am on the 21st of October and saw a message from Zenith on my phone. I thought it was a card maintenance charge or one of those bank charges,” Udoh told WikkiTimes. “To my amazement, it was debit alerts. Not one, but six debit alerts of N1 million each, amounting to N6 million.”
She added: “I quickly called the bank to block debit transactions from my phone and I fainted immediately. Woke up at about 4 am and couldn’t sleep at all. Some minutes before 9 am, I was at the Idimu Branch (where I opened the account) and asked to see the operations manager.
“Now, these people did not seem to know who the operations manager was. They kept passing me from one person to the next. Suffice to say, they knew it was another case as it had been an issue that several other customers complained about.
“I caused a scene and was eventually directed to a man. I don’t know his position in the bank. This man asked for my account details and started typing stuff on his system. He eventually didn’t have a tangible thing to say and left me in his office. I needed answers. I went to another man who directed me to a woman. The woman eventually directed me to this lady.”
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Udoh believes the breach of her account was an organised crime by the insiders. According to her, she had contacted the central bank of Nigeria and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to intervene.
When asked if she had patronised any POS agent, she said no. However, there was a reflection of that on the screenshots she shared with our reporter. She reaffirmed that the FCCPC had been contacted and the case is being investigated.
As of press time, an enquiry sent to Zenith Bank had not been responded to.
