December 13,2022

Princess Isoken, an Abuja-based entrepreneur, has narrated how N270,000 was stolen from her UBA account.

Isoken told FIJ that she requested to deactivate the phone number linked to her account on March 11 but the bank refused to treat her request.

“On March 11, I was at UBA, Faskari Crescent branch, Abuja, to order that all alerts on my number be stopped because I was no longer using it,” she told FIJ

The customer service representative who attended to me took my form and promised to treat it. She said the number would be deactivated.

“I left the banking hall with the mindset that UBA would attend to my request.”

“On October 1, I tried to pay for an item with my debit card, but the transaction was declined several times. The error message I got was ‘insufficient funds

“I was shocked because I had over N200,000 in my account. I immediately checked my account balance via a PoS machine and I was surprised to learn I had only N10,000 left in my account.

“I also checked my mail and realised that N270,000 had been cleared from my account in bits. My money was fraudulently withdrawn between September 27 and 29.”

The entrepreneur said when she returned to the same branch to complain, the bank said they would lodge a complaint at their headquarters in Lagos, investigate and facilitate a refund.

“I met Patrick Uba, one of their HODs. They promised to complain to their Lagos headquarters, investigate and possibly return my N270,000.

“The officials at UBA Faskari Crescent branch kept dodging me. They even lied they tried to reach me.

“I did a bit of my own investigation and found the person’s name, picture and location, which I sent to UBA to aid their investigation.

“I realised that the number wasn’t deactivated after all, and the new person whom the number was assigned to was receiving all my alerts

UBA did nothing about the details I sent them. Rather, they asked for another two weeks to investigate. Apparently, UBA is asking for time not to investigate and get my money back but to buy time with the hope that I’ll forget my money.”

In response to FIJ’s email, UBA stated that they would prefer their customer contact them for a resolution.

“Kindly be advised to liaise with our customer to contact us. Alternatively, please visit any of our UBA business offices close to you for further assistance