Emmanuel Chukwu, a realtor, lost N2.95 million to fraudsters through a Telegram group in August. He got a court order and police report for Wema Bank to place a restriction on the fraudsters bank account and also provide his details for investigation; the bank ignored both documents.
The fraudster has since absconded and evade law enforcement.
Chukwu told FIJ that he was added to a Telegram group, a currency exchange platform, unsolicited. Being a business facilitator, the purpose of the group seemed to align with his interests, so he stayed.
From the way transactions went on the group, it did not apparently seem like it was part of a fraud scheme. He would later find out when someone reached out to him for a transaction.
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“Someone reached out to me that he wanted to do some exchange so he could order for goods. He had naira he wanted to change to dollars. So I decided to give the platform a chance,” Chukwu recounted.
“Someone who portrayed himself to be the administrator of the group said I would have to post. They would send the account I would pay the naira. I would pay the naira to the admin like an escrow account. The admin would confirm the money, then the so-called seller would send me the US dollars, then after I’ve confirmed the USD, before the admin, the escrow account owner would release the naira to a supposed seller. It’s an exchange, so I would pay naira, and then I would get USD.
“But to my greatest surprise, immediately I paid the money, that was the end. I noticed that all the messages in the group started disappearing. I was automatically removed. Everything disappeared in the twinkle of an eye. It was then that it dawned me that my N2,950,000 was gone.”
All the contacts Chukwu could probably call were deactivated in a jiffy but he could only remember the recipient’s name — Suleiman Musa, a Wema Bank user.
Chukwu told FIJ that he swiftly contacted Wema Bank so they could prevent the recipient from accessing the money but they necessitated him to get a court order, which took him two weeks to get.
Chukwu said he got two court orders — one for a reversal of the money and the other for Musa to be arrested on sight. He also got a police report.
“The police report is so as to enable them get the contact details of the scammer and his next of kin and the account opening package of the Suleiman Musa to enable the police get enough details to track and perhaps to arrest the guy,” Chukwu said.
“I submitted all the reports. They told me they have placed a restriction on the account. They also said that few days before I came, somebody had already brought a court order, that the person was also scammed. They said that that account has been used to scam people over time. One of the staff told me that, although, she said this in confidence.
“Till now, Wema Bank has not done anything.”
Chukwu said he had visited Wema Bank on numerous occasions but what they consistently said was that the delay was from their headquarters.
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Chukwu has also written a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), but despite acknowledging his letter, the agency is yet to respond. He also wrote to the Consumer Protection Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria but he got no response.
“It’s as if all the agencies were conniving,” Chukwu said.
When Chukwu saw the account he was going to send the N2.95 million to, it gave him a sense of security that no scammer would be stupid enough to use a commercial bank to defraud others.
When FIJ emailed Wema Bank on Wednesday, they asked for the information of the victim and the fraudster. The bank later responded on Friday that it would investigate the issue.
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