On May 2, Rufus Adetayo (not real name) a merchant with Binance, a cryptocurrency platform, received N4.5 million in his Access Bank account from one Henry Azande Tivlumum, an alleged cyber hacker.

Adetayo told FIJ the sum was a payment he received from Tivlumum for trading Tether (USDT).

He said that days after the transaction, he noticed a lien had been placed on his accounts due to the money from Tivlumum.

Unknown to him, the sum received from Tivlumum as payment for crypto was part of N8 billion stolen from the bank.

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“On May 2, Henry Tivlumum bought crypto from me on the Binance platform worth N5.5 million,” he told FIJ.

“He paid the sum in tranches: N4.5 million into my Access Bank account and N1 million into my Kuda Bank account.

“Surprisingly, eight days after the transaction, I noticed a lien on my Kuda and Access Bank accounts.”

The crypto trader said that when he tried to understand the cause of the lien, he made inquiries from both banks but Access refused to admit that there was a court order restricting his account.

“Access Bank has refused to admit that they got an order from the court to restrict my account, even while other banks who also placed liens on their customers’ accounts were sharing their court orders with us,” Adebayo told FIJ.

“The hacker who stole the money from the bank and then used it to by crypto from traders across board and his victims’ accounts were restricted from performing transactions.

“This was what made them share their court orders with us.”

Adetayo told FIJ that after waiting about 90 days without an end in sight, he approached the same court that issued a restriction order to Access Bank and got a vacate order.

He said the vacate order was served to all the banks of those who received money from the cyber fraud perpetrated by Tivlumum, including Access Bank.

He stated that while other banks, including Kuda, lifted the ban on accounts, the accounts were soon restricted again as Access Bank sent an official correspondence communicating that the accounts should remain restricted.

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“I was allowed to take the excess amount in the account but the disputed N4.5 million was inaccessible. Then the lien was returned again. On July 25, I tried to get a court order so they cold unfreeze my account but then they removed the money and it has been a battle since then.

“Access Bank removed my money and all attempts to get them to return it has been futile.

“I heard that they removed money from other people’s accounts as well and even mounted pressure on other banks to send the money back to them.

“Because I can’t just sit still and watch my money go down the drain, I visited their branch on France Road, Sabon Gari, Kano, yesterday.

“The manager I met looked me frankly in the eye and told me that there was no way I would recover my money.

“My N4.5 million is gone just because a fraudster paid me for a legit trade. Meanwhile, the fraudster is still at large living his life.”

When FIJ reached out to Access Bank via email on Monday to inquire about the withheld N4.5 million, Agorye Kelly, a customer care representative of the financial institution, stated that the case had been sent to the anti-fraud team for investigation and their response would be communicated.

“Kindly be informed that your enquiry has been forwarded to the antifraud team for investigation, and feedback will be communicated upon completion of the investigations,” the bank wrote.