Adeyiga Oyenike Taiwo, a Lagos resident, has shared her experience of losing more than N150,000 due to unauthorised transactions on her Ecobank account.
TOP MEDIA NIGERIA reports that the incident, which began in March, has left her with a negative account balance.
Adeyiga recounted to FIJ that the ordeal began on March 11, when her son, Jide, transferred N200,000 to her account.
“I always inform him once I receive money, so I checked my balance and saw over N300,000,” she said.
However, the next day, she noticed that she had been debited the sum of N100,000 despite not initiating any transaction.
“I saw about N200,000 as my account balance, which was absurd because I did not make any transactions. My account was short of over N100,000. Also, I did not receive debit alerts for these deductions,” Adeyiga explained.
Jide confirmed that the unauthorised deductions totaled N145,598.
Adeyiga visited an Ecobank branch to resolve the issue. However, she received two unexpected debit alerts of N12,100 each while she was on the bank premises.
“I lodged complaints, and they told me to wait for the reversal. On March 19, they reversed N12,100 five times, totaling N60,500. However, they admitted that the staff who attended to me initially failed to lodge complaints for the other deductions. They finally refunded the balance on April 4,” she recounted.
However, she got multiple new debit alerts days later.
Her son explained that she began moving money out of her account after she was refunded, but the bank still debited what was left and even more.
This time, Ecobank deducted N156,670, pushing her account into a negative balance.
Adeyiga explained that she returned to the bank, but she kept getting excuses.
“I returned to the bank, but they kept giving me excuses and asked for my ATM card. I live alone, so there’s no way someone could have taken my card to make transactions behind my back,” Adeyiga said.
Her account statement revealed that some deductions were labelled as “POS Purchases,” a claim Adeyiga disputed.
“I have never used POS agents. I always withdraw cash directly from the bank. This situation has caused me sleepless nights because I’ve lost over N150,000,” she lamented.
