Published 31st May, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

On April 12, 2021, Ayinde Oluwaseun, an Ogun State-based civil servant, erroneously transferred N3,000,200 from his Guaranty Trust Bank Account (GTBank) to a wrong Zenith Bank account.

Ayinde told FIJ that after realising his mistake, he immediately contacted his bank via its online channels but did not get any response on time.

“My intention was to transfer the amount to the Zenith Bank account 239****450 but I ended up transferring it to 239****405,” Ayinde said.

“The following morning, I quickly visited the GTbank branch in Ashero, Abeokuta, to request for help over the incident. I was however referred back to the bank’s customer care line, right there inside the branch.

“This time around, however, I was able to connect to the customer care line and I told the agent that attended to me about the erroneous transfer.

“There and then, the officer told me that they would work on my request and that I should not worry.”

The civil servant said he received a mail on the same night from his bank, assuring him that his request was currently being worked on.

Ayinde said he was able to find out, through his own independent investigation, that the category of account he had transferred the amount to was one that was incapable of taking the entire sum.

“Through my own personal investigation, I was able to find out that that particular Zenith bank account I erroneously transferred the money to was a lower-tiered account that was not allowed to receive that kind of sum,” Ayinde said.

“It can only receive a lower sum. When I got to know this, I was a bit relieved. My thought was that it would be easy for Zenith Bank to get the money reversed back to me.”

Ayinde said he attempted obtaining a court order so he could get GTBank to help him request that the money be reversed into his account from Zenith Bank, but unfortunately, judicial workers were on strike during the period.

“When judicial workers eventually resumed work and I was able to obtain the court order, the narrative suddenly changed. It was at the period that Zenith Bank came back to say the money could no longer be traced. They also claimed the money was also not in the account I claimed I sent it to,” said the civil servant.

“Further independent investigation I carried out showed that the fund eventually impacted the account during the period I was trying to obtain a court order.

“This meant that all through the period I was looking for a court order, the Zenith Bank customer I mistakenly transferred the money to, had upgraded the account and had withdrawn the entire amount from it.

Statement Showing The Zenith Bank Customer Withdrew the Fund After Upgrading His Account

“The person withdrew the money within 24 hours. As he was withdrawing from the counter within the bank premises, he was also withdrawing the money with his ATM card.”

Ayinde believes the Zenith Bank customer ‘got assistance’ from a staff member of the bank.

“I am sure the Zenith Bank customer was assisted by an insider who works with Zenith Bank. I am sure he was advised to upgrade his account so he could withdraw the money successfully,” said the civil servant.

“After this incident, GTBank and Zenith Bank began tossing me about. GTBank is claiming it sent a mail to zenith bank to assist with the issue. Zenith bank is claiming they did not get any notification from GTBank.

“It has been over a year and my money is still hanging. Both banks have refused to take responsibility on the issue. Please help me. I need my money back.”

When FIJ reached out to Cornelius Onuoha, one of the designated spokespersons for GTBank, he requested that a mail be sent to him on the incident. A response had however not been received from him at press time.

A mail sent to Zenith Bank’s customer care desk had also not received any response at the time of publishing this story.

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