Ecobank is under scrutiny as Caroline Oruku, a 76-year-old widow, continues to seek the recovery of N2,133,922.42 that was fraudulently withdrawn from her account in March 2023.
The incident was initially reported by FIJ on May 27.
Oruku explained to FIJ that the theft occurred on March 3, 2023, when she attempted to make two transfers totaling N45,000 to her children’s accounts at the Ecobank branch on Allen Avenue, Ikeja.
“After issuing the instructions, I received a call from the branch manager to confirm the payments,” she recounted.
Following the confirmation, the manager asked Oruku if she had received a special code from the bank, which she had.
Trusting the manager’s guidance, Oruku was instructed to write down the code, which was misleadingly presented as a new PIN to secure her account.
Shortly after, she began receiving multiple debit alerts for transactions she had neither authorised nor performed, leading to a total loss of over N2 million.
Upon reporting the incident at the bank on the same day, Oruku was attended to by a woman claiming to be the branch manager.
The “manager” acknowledged making the calls but seemed uneasy during their conversation, suggesting something was amiss.
Oruku returned to the branch the following Monday, only to encounter a different woman, also identifying herself as the branch manager.
This second manager confirmed that the first call was made from her number but stated she was not present during the fraudulent activity.
“I realised that the first manager had impersonated the real manager to execute the fraud,” Oruku stated.
However, the genuine branch manager reportedly took Oruku’s phone under the pretext of verifying information, later deleting the fraudulent message containing the special code.
After the incident, Oruku sought assistance at Ecobank’s headquarters in Victoria Island but received little help in recovering her stolen funds.
When FIJ contacted Ecobank’s customer care on May 23 for comments, a representative responded, citing confidentiality and data protection policies while assuring that customer issues are handled promptly.
As of the latest updates, 18 months post-theft, Ecobank has yet to assist Oruku in reclaiming her lost N2.1 million.
