A pastor and UBA customer, Attih Bassey, visited the ATM on February 4 after receiving a payment of N50,000 for a job. His intention was to withdraw only N20,000, but he was unable to do this as there was a network challenge. The sixty-eight-year-old lost N50,100 after attempting to carry out a withdrawal at the ATM located in the United Bank of Africa’s (UBA) Okota branch in Lagos.
“I got a contract to do something on burial programme, so I went to the bank to withdraw N20,000. As I got there, I saw people queuing and I joined them. I was told there was no network, and I waited since I needed the money. After a while, I tried to use the ATM. As I put in the card like twice, the card kept coming out. Then, I saw an alert of N100 and then 50,000,” Bassey narrated.
“After seeing the alert, I went into the bank immediately to complain. They asked if anybody had called me and if I had given my pin to anyone, I told them no. So, they informed me that my account had been tampered with.”
Bassey was denied a printout of his statement of account when he requested it. The customer care officer attending to him asked him to check it on her computer screen. The reason for this, Bassey did not understand.
When the alert Bassey received was examined it showed that the money was deducted through SportyPays. However, Bassey claimed that he had never done anything with them.
“I don’t know them. I have never had anything to do with them. It was there, in the bank, that they showed me. I don’t know anybody there and I have never used it,” said Bassey.
At the moment, Bassey’s ATM is blocked by the bank and he is unable to use it. Yet, he received a call from a customer care agent on Tuesday, asking for his date of birth. The caller said they were aware he had been at the ATM in the morning struggling with withdrawal.
This is not Bassey’s first time using the ATM in Okota. For that reason, he is convinced someone at the bank took advantage of his struggle at the ATM to steal his N50,000.
“I know the bank is aware of this because they saw me there struggling with withdrawal that day,” he said.
An email sent to UBA has not been replied to as of press time.
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