Except something is done and done with the speed of lighting, the Fagba, Iju Road branch of First Bank Nigeria PLC., in Lagos State, will soon drag the financial institution’s hard earned name and reputations into the mud.
Story has it that some staff of the bank in that branch dips their itchy fingers into the account of customers.
A recent practical example is that of Mrs(name with held),the owner of El-Bethel School, Matogun Road, Oke Aro, whose account was tempered with to the tune of N150,000.
But for the alertness and resilience of the female customer in question, the bank’s staff would have been N150k richer even in this austere time and zero tolerance to corruption stance of the present regime of President Muhammad Buhari. Yet everyone in Nigerian seems to loathe corruption.
The story goes like this. “The sum of N150,000 was wire into the account of Mrs(name withheld). who is a school proprietress, El-Bethel School, Matogun Road, Oke Aro,” our source continued.
“Though, they (bank) has refunded the money when she complained and confronted them with the phone number of the person who made the withdrawal…(an insider at the branch.) He changed the customer’s phone alert number with his own.
The bubble burst when the customer approached Airtel (how she got Airtel to divulge such vital information without court order, I don’t know). The telecom company supplied the real name of the number that made the withdrawal and the person happened to be a staff of the bank and First Bank had no option but to refund the cash,” our source said.
When this reporter called the lady who account was tempered with, she confirmed the story but refused to talk about it because of the understanding she reached with the branch manager of the bank not to make it a press issue.
There is also a story of the bank’s customer in its Obigbo branch that escaped been duped by a fraudster he suspected was working hand in glove with a staff of the bank. His story goes thus “I got a phone call from 08148292037 who claimed to be Mr. Benjamin from FBN Abuja. He gave my full names, BVN number, date of birth, my alert phone number, which he called, also the 5 digit number I used to create my FBN mobile bank app.
He said that one Mr. Usman created a Union bank account, and is trying to move money from my FBN account to the Union bank. He claimed he stopped the transaction, and is trying to verify if I authorised such transaction, which is the reason I have not gotten any debit Alert.
“I asked him to go ahead to block the transaction, for I didn’t authorise any online transaction.
“He then asked if I gave my ATM card to anyone or used my ATM recently, I said NO. “He then asked if I have my ATM card with me, that I should read out the ATM digit numbers to enable him stop the transaction. I told him that he had already stopped the transaction, and have gotten a clarification from me, which is enough to enable him block whatever that needs blocking, if he is truly a first bank staff.
“As I refused to call out the numbers, he then asked isn’t the first number 5. He then asked what’s the next number? I told him that I will never read out my number to who claimed to be FBN over the phone, that I will rather go to the First Bank office & complain. He asked me if he is a ghost or not a FBN staff to get all my details.
As I pissed him off by not budging, he switched off the phone.
“As I checked a message on that my Alert phone, there was already a message from Union Bank, showing Account opening Authentication numbers 872395, 973392.
“I quickly rushed to Obigbo branch of FBN. The Customer care personnel asked me not to bother about anything, so long as I didn’t read out those numbers to him nor gave my ATM pin. It is so real & convincing that I believe some Fraudulent bank staff connive with these HOOLIGANS to dupe innocent customers. Please share widely ASAP,” the customer pleaded.
Make no mistake, this fraudulent practice is not limited to First Bank, all Nigerian banks are open to this shady practice but whether the banks make a scape goat of these perpetrators of this shady deal is another thing.
Similarly, a prospective customer, this time name withheld, had approached the bank on early November 2018, to open a company account.
Having satisfied all the conditions laid down before the account can be opened, the gentleman whose name we also want to keep secret because of his request, had been told to deposit a specific amount of money.
However, so the account can be operational. That condition was also complied with after repeated visits to ascertain the status of the account.
Alas! On the said date,the prospective customer was told that the account is yet to be fully opened when he had visited the bank to request for a cheque book. No reason was given for the bank’s official’s inability to open the account two months after….
The question now is, if the customer had deposited a significant amount and expected the account opening to have been concluded in a matter of days so he can access the funds, would he have been able to do that? Is that not part of ways of making it difficult for people to do business in Nigeria?
When contacted d media relations personnel in the banks headquarters refused to respond and even acknowledge the messages sent to him through sms and whattsaap as to the banks position on the tardiness of the branch and what they are doing about it.
There is no doubt efficient banking system and customer trust is lacking in easily the nations. oldest banking institution with it’s vast network of branches and customer base.
