Ifiok Usua, a Lagos-based man, was shocked to see N130,000 leave his Zenith Bank account to the Paystack account of VasTopUp on April 14 despite initiating no transaction. But his biggest frustration has been how Paystack and VasTopUp have been tossing him back and forth instead of refunding his money.

Usua told FIJ that immediately after Zenith Bank notified him via debit alert messages about a banking transaction on his account four times, he contacted both VasTopUp and Paystack. He said he thought his money would be reversed quickly.

“I contacted my bank, VasTopUp and Paystack that all the deductions were not authorised by me. They all promised to investigate. But after a few days, Paystack informed me that the funds had been sent back to the bank, but to this moment, this has not been done,” Usua told FIJ.

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He said Zenith Bank informed him after its investigation to contact Paystack, but Paystack told him to go to the bank for a chargeback. After some time, Usua said, Paystack started telling him to get in touch with Sunday Medugu, the owner of VasTopUp, for a refund.

Usua said that Medugu of VasTopUp told him when he contacted him that the matter was in court with Paystack and that he would get his money when the court made a judgment. He also explained that the transactions happened because there was a security breach.

“But the company has not provided any such service to me. Why did they take funds from my account fraudulently? I believe this is collusion between the merchant and Paystack to deny me my money. I believe the details of my card were leaked and used by an insider in VasTopUp,” Usua said.

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When FIJ emailed Medugu of VasTopUp, he said that the case was in court pending the granting of the reversal order and that the matter had also been duly reported to the police.

“On April 14, there was a hack on our Paystack merchant account, which he was duly notified about. He was also informed that the case is in court and that he will get a reversal as soon as we receive the court order to reverse the funds back to Paystack. When Paystack gets the money, it will be reversed in his account. Paystack is also aware of this breach and has also been duly represented in the suit in court,” Medugu said.

When FIJ emailed Paystack, they requested some of Usua’s non-sensitive details, which FIJ sent to them.