Published 27th May, 2022

By Opeyemi Lawal

Felix Abayomi, a civil engineer, has narrated how N635,000 disappeared from his Zenith Bank account on November 29, 2021, to an unknown Wema Bank account he had never transacted business with.

Felix told FIJ that he noticed the unauthorised transfer of fund to a Wema account with the name ‘Abeg technologies’ at about 5 pm on the said day.

Felix's bank statement. — Felix’s bank statement.

“I called Abiola Oyeleye, my account officer immediately and he asked that I come to the bank the following day to resolve things. I went, but nothing was done,” said Felix.

“It became a serious issue and finally the bank asked me to bring a letter from a lawyer. This was when I contacted Olusola Olaleye, a lawyer, and he gave me a letter to take to the bank.”

Felix said his lawyer wrote a letter to Zenith Bank headquarters and he personally submitted it.

However, nothing changed after I submitted the letter to Zenith Bank,” he said.

When FIJ contacted Abiola Oyeleye, Felix’s account manager, he said it was a case to be handled by Zenith’s legal team, as the letter was addressed to them. He also said there was a compromise from the customer’s side.

“He gave out the phone but failed to clear his details off it. Subsequently, the person he gave the phone to also gave it out for repairs and then his account was hacked,” the account manager said.

“We know this because we were able to trace that specific transaction to the phone he gave out and this was solely the customer’s fault. What we tried to do what to see if we could salvage some part of the money virtually. The person that defrauded him used a platform called Abeg Technology.

“The bank is not liable for an error that came from him and right now, it’s an issue between banks.

“Wema/Abeg needs to be able to salvage whatever is left because they are a third party in this transaction. However, I can’t comment further on this issue because I am only his account officer. Our legal team would provide every other needed information.”

FIJ sent messages to Zenith Bank’s legal team and Wema Bank customer care, but they had not responded to them at press time.

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