A Lagos bar owner, Ifeoma Okolie, has alleged that N4,935,000, was illegally withdrawn from her Keystone Bank account mostly through automated teller machines (ATM).
The 38-year-old, however, lamented that she did not request for an ATM card on the account and did not get any alert while the transactions lasted.
PUNCH reports that Okolie discovered the fraud in December 2017, after she received a text message of her total balance from the bank.
She said because the amount in the text message did not correspond with her expected account balance, she visited a Keystone Bank branch at Ifako-Agege, to lodge a complaint.
After several visits, the customer said she is yet to get her money back.
“I was shocked when I received the text message. When I saw what was left in my account, I felt like killing myself because that was my entire life savings. I hardly withdraw from the account because I save there for future use. That was why I never requested an ATM card for the account.
“I was accompanied by my friend, Ada, when I opened the account and since I opened it, I withdrew through the counter only four times. The total amount I withdrew was N267,000.
“So, when the message came in, I complained at my branch at Ifako-Agege.
“I was told that I collected an ATM card and that the money was withdrawn with an ATM card. They even showed me a woman whom they claimed withdrew money from the account with my ATM card.
“I am 38 years old; I am not a baby. I don’t know the woman the bank showed me from anywhere and I am willing to defend my claims anywhere,” she said.
Okolie has gone further by writing to the bank through her lawyer Mayowa Akinyemi.
The petition, dated December 20, 2017, reads: “It is the brief of our client that since she opened her account with Keystone Bank in September 2015, she had never applied for an ATM card and she was not issued an ATM card in respect of this account.
“Our client informed us that the only time she withdrew money from her account was on August 15, 2016, from the Iju branch, which was N100,000.
“Our client informed us that she was shocked beyond words to discover a few days ago that a fraudster had been making withdrawals from her account using a Keystone Bank ATM card since 2015 and that more than N4m had been fraudulently withdrawn from our client’s account.
“Our client further informed us that she never received any debit alert on her phone in respect of all withdrawals made from her account by this unknown fraudster.”
The lawyer urged the bank to get to the root of the fraud and bring the perpetrators to book.
Replying the petition, Keystone Bank insists that Okolie subscribed to an ATM card and made withdrawals with it.
The bank said it was not liable for the alleged fraudulent withdrawals.
In a letter dated March 13, 2018, the Head, Investigation and Customers’ Complaints, Nduka Iromenu, said, “Our investigation revealed that Okolie Ifeoma Perpetual opened a savings account with number, 6019339780, in our Ifako-Agege, Iju Road branch on August 5, 2015.
“Your client also subscribed to ATM debit and mobile banking when the account was opened on August 05, 2015. Contrary to your assertion in your referenced letter that your client had never requested an ATM card, our records show that she signed and collected a Master card and PIN at our Iju branch on August 10, 2015.
“Furthermore, the first ATM transaction on the account was carried out on August 13, 2015 and thereafter, all other withdrawals from the account with the exception of a N100,000 cash withdrawal on August 25, 2015, were ATM transactions.
“We also confirmed that the Transaction Notification Service set up on your client’s account was designed for both debit and credit alerts and these alerts were sent to her registered telephone number 081057*** between August 2015 and July 11, 2016, and her subsequent telephone number 090636*** between July 12, 2016 and October 2017. By your own admission, your client also confirmed that she received credit alerts on her telephone number 090636***.”
Akinyemi has asked the bank to provide evidence that the victim applied for the ATM card, adding that those who had been making withdrawals from the account should also be identified through the CCTV cameras on the bank premises.
Head, Brand Management, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Keystone Bank Limited, Bolanle Osotule, said the woman was lying, and trying to be smart.
She said, “When they showed her the picture of the person who withdrew the money, they asked her to bring the person who usually comes with her to the bank for transactions so that they could match the person’s face with that picture; she told them that the person was dead.
“They said she is not lettered and that the number of time they had met and discussed with her, she always had someone with her who was always piloting her statement.
“She said there was no evidence that she asked for an ATM card; that’s not true. What they said was that they are going to go to court. So, if they want to go to court, why are they going to newspaper houses? Why don’t they settle it legally?”
