Samuel Akpata (pseudonym), an Abuja resident, has explained how United Bank for Africa failed to obey a court order to block the bank account fraudsters used to steal his N100,000.
On December 12, around 10 am, Akpata received a call from someone disguised as his father-in-law.
The impersonator on the other end of the call said that his wife (Akpata’s mother-in-law) was in critical condition at the Nnamdi Azikwe Teaching Hospital, Nnewi. They claimed the woman needed to undergo an appendectomy.
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Appendectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the appendix.
“They made me talk to someone who pretended as a doctor named Chinedu Ezuoke who said they needed money for the operation. I asked them to let me talk to the woman but they said I could not talk to her as of then,” Akpata recounted.
He told FIJ that he tried to reach his in-laws through the contact details he was familiar with. After the phone calls did not connect, coupled with the panic he sensed in the voice that spoke to him, he believed their story was true and the treatment was urgent.
After Akpata sent the N100,000 to the UBA account that bore the name of the doctor, he requested a video call. Their response gave him a rude awakening.
“It was after that payment, that they telephoned me back that they received the money and when I persuaded to get a video call, they told me that it was a scam,” Akpata explained.
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Five days after being swindled of his money, Akpata obtained a court order with the help of a lawyer.
Akpata told FIJ that his lawyer had written a letter to UBA and also tried to contact them about the court order they obtained, but the bank’s response has been consistent all through — absolute silence.
FIJ called Rabiu Nasir, the UBA spokesperson, multiple times on Friday but he did not take his calls. He was yet to respond to FIJ’s text message at press time.
The post Despite Court Order, UBA Refuses to Lock Account Used to Steal Abuja Resident’s N100,000 appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.