Published 12th May, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

Eyioma Isaac, a Lagos-based media personality, has accused Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) of failing to reverse her N33,000 after a transfer she made on an ATM machine failed.

Isaac told FIJ that she had attempted transferring the amount from an Access Bank ATM in Ikorodu to a Zenith Bank account in October 2021 when she got debited.

“When I realised they debited me without crediting the beneficiary, I called GT Bank immediately to lodge a complaint. The call representative that attended to me told me to wait for two weeks then,” she said.

“Two weeks later, I neither received a mail from the bank nor a text message concerning the status of my complaint.”

Isaac said she subsequently visited a GT Bank branch in Ikorodu, Lagos, in January to complain since the bank had refused to refund her money.

She said a staffer in the bank told her that the transaction got to the final destination, but there was no proof to back this claim up.

“Two weeks later, I visited the bank again. This time, I created a scene at the branch. A customer care representative then requested the beneficiary account details. When I gave her, she said it was an ‘Interswitch issue’,” Isaac said.

“She said it was an error, as the money went to the wrong person. But the error didn’t come from me. If it was indeed a switch error, the ATM would not have brought out the actual account name during the transaction.

“They asked me not to post the issue on social media. They said the money was in someone else’s account.”

The media personnel said the bank told her in March that they had blocked the recipient’s access to the money. She stated that GT Bank told her that the freeze placed on the recipient’s account would prevent him or her from withdrawing the money. It was however also pointed out to her that it would require the consent of the person to get the money reversed to her.

“They told me they had sent a mail to the person’s account officer. They also agreed that the money was in the wrong account,” she said.

“The last time I went to the bank, the manager told me the receiver’s name was Olukemi, but I sent the money to an Igbo person. And the ATM could not have given me the wrong name.”

FIJ sent an email GT Bank, but it had not been responded to at press time.

Also, FIJ placed several calls to Cornelius Onuoha, one of GT Bank’s consultants, but he did not answer them. He had also not responded to a text message sent to his phone at press time.

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