Chiamaka Agim is unemployed and lives in Lagos. On January 9, 2023, N4 million was "fraudulently" taken out of her Zenith Bank account.
The woman says she used to work for Zenith Bank Plc, and she said she got the debit alert without her permission.
Agim told PUNCH in an interview how she got the debit alerts: "I should ask Zenith Bank how it happened. My money was kept in the bank, and it was stolen from that same bank under their SEE. They have not given me a satisfactory answer about how they will return the money I left with them. It happened around 8:43 pm on January 9, 2023. First to an Access Bank account, I got a debit alert. It was N3.7m, which was moved from my account to the Access Bank account. I didn't know what to do because I had never given permission for such transactions. I couldn't have done a deal like that to begin with. That money is all I've saved up in my life. Why would I send it to an Access Bank account I don't know anything about? It doesn't make sense. I want to be clear that I didn't give permission for that transaction. In just one minute, I got another alert for N222,900 before I knew what was going on. I was trying to check my phone app to see what was going on when I saw that an alert had been sent to the same Access Bank account where the first N3.7 million had been sent illegally.
"It hadn't even been a minute when I got another debit alert from UBA for N102,000. Everything taken out was more than N4m. About N12,900 was still in my account."
She went on to talk about what she did when she got the debit alerts: "I couldn't even breathe well. I had no ideas. In just five minutes, I lost all the money I had saved up. I don't know who did this or how it happened, but I'm pleading with Zenith Bank to give me my money back.
"I went to the bank the next day, but I don't understand what they're saying. They're telling me things that I don't get. They said I gave permission for a token or something similar, but I have never given permission for any kind of token on my Zenith Bank account. I also went to Access Bank to find out what happened, and they told me that the money had been "moved." When they say the money "moved," they mean that it left the account.
"The main point is that I used to work for Zenith Bank. I worked at their branch in Apapa. The account in question was a staff account that the bank had set up to pay my wages and other benefits. Just give my money back to Zenith Bank. N4m can't be stolen from my bank account, but they're telling me that it's gone. It can't happen. It's not for me. They need to give me my money back. I have no money left anywhere else. I don't have an account anywhere else. That's all the money I've saved up in my life, and it was gone in the blink of an eye."
Agim said, "My ATM card and my phone are here with me. I haven't lost them.
"I never buy anything online. Apple Music is only for iPhone users, so I don't even use it. That's how much I try not to do business online. The bank says that I can only spend N200,000 per day. If this is true, how will they handle a transaction of more than N4 million without going through the right channels? Why will they let that transfer go through without my explicit permission? Isn't this a scam? I'm begging Zenith Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria to help me get my money back.
She also talked about what happened when she went to Zenith Bank to complain. "They told me to write letters, so I wrote letters and letters and sent them to them," she said. On January 10, I went there at 8 a.m. I'm not sure where to go. I'm not sure where to start with this case. I'm asking President Muhammadu Buhari to help me. I am going to die. This makes me mad. I won't get through this. I have no online accounts anywhere. This is the only thing I've ever saved. How do I go on living when I know I have to start over? Everything was destroyed! I'm told to write a letter by Zenith Bank. How will they give permission for a transaction of that size without telling anyone? I can't even start to understand how bad this is!
"That money that was taken away was for my rent. I need that money for a lot of things. It's not N40,000 or N400,000. It's more than N4m. All the water was gone. Please give me my money back, Zenith Bank."
When asked if she had talked to a lawyer for legal advice, Agim said, "I need a lawyer, in fact, I need a team of lawyers. Please, if you can help me, please come to my aid. I am going to die. I know I won't be able to make it through this. Help me, and give me my money back. I have no money left over. I walked to get to that bank and walked back. It's so bad. Since this thing happened, I haven't been able to eat. I can't think of anything else to do. I need help. "My N4 million should be sent back to me."
When asked if she went to the bank's headquarters to make a formal complaint, she said, "I went to their headquarters on Victoria Island, Lagos, after they sent me an email saying that I used a token to make the transfer. Zenith Bank doesn't have any tokens for me. I don't understand what they are saying. They said that the account at United Bank for Africa where the N122, 000 was sent by fraud does not "look like a fraudster." I don't understand what you mean. It is not making any sense. Just give me back my money. I have no cash on me. I don't know anyone there. I have no one else with me in this city. This money wasn't stolen from me. In the rain and the sun, it is my sweat and blood. I went through pain and went hungry to save up that money. In August 2021, I moved to Lagos to make a living for myself. I've been feeling bad. My landlord has been giving me a hard time.
"I lost my job in December 2021, and I planned to use that money to start a business. Now they're telling me they can't find my money."
The bank said in a statement that they were able to get back about N800,500 from the Access Bank account. Agim said, "How can I get N800,500 out of N4 million?" People here want to kill me. I will commit suicide o! I can't think of anything else to do. I don't steal. I didn't do anything fraudulent. Just give me the money, says Zenith Bank. I have all the proof of payment, including the account numbers where the money was sent. They should just give me back my money. They were in charge of the money.
"How can they claim that they only got N800,500? They even told me I need a court order to get my money back, and that if I lose any other money, they are not responsible. When I went there for the first time, one of the workers told me to thank God I was still alive. These people don't care about anything. They don't care about the majority of poor people. If I were well-known or powerful, they would have answered me right away.
"Please, they should find the rest the same way they found the N800,500. I can't think of anything else to do. They have seen that I don't have anyone who will fight for me."
When asked if she had written to the Consumer Protection Unit at CBN, Agim said, "Of course, I have. I even mentioned them online, and they told me to give more information, which I did. Then they told me they'd get back to me in three days. I still have to wait.
Even though the bank has said she was given a token, Agim insisted, "Zenith Bank did not give me a token." If they say I used a token, they should show where I signed a form for a token or where I asked for one. There is no record like that. It's clear that someone inside the bank did this."
When asked if she had told the police about it, she said, "No, I haven't." I'm waiting to hear from a lawyer."