A combined photo of GTBank logo and screenshot of the transaction
By Our Reporter
A Nigerian, Lagos-based furniture maker, Daramola Ebenezer Babatunde, has accused Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) of abandoning him after N1 million was siphoned from his account and transferred to an OPay account without his authorisation.
Babatunde said he discovered the unexpected debit on Sunday and immediately reported the incident to GTBank the following day. However, despite his prompt complaint and subsequent follow-ups, the bank told him it could not take responsibility or recover the funds, directing him instead to find the person who withdrew the money. OPay, on its part, informed him that it could only act if GTBank formally notifies it about the disputed transaction.
Babatunde said the incident began with a suspicious transaction he discovered on a Sunday evening, which he insists he did not authorise.
“On Sunday, I noticed an unusual debit of N1 million from my account,” Babatunde told FIJ.
“I have never shared my account details, including my transaction password, with anyone. So, I don’t understand how that money suddenly disappeared from my account at about 12 pm that Sunday.
“The only thing I know right now is that the N1 million was transferred from my account into an OPay account number 6426593463 with the name Zeinab Ohunene Abdulmalik.”
Following the discovery of the debit, Babatunde said he promptly reported the matter to his bank.
“On Monday, the day after the unfortunate incident occurred, I rushed to a GTBank office in Lagos and immediately informed them about the issue,” he told FIJ.
“So, on Tuesday, I went back to the same office to inquire about what had been done, but they told me they couldn’t do anything.
“They said none of their staff was responsible for the unauthorised transaction, so I should go and look for whoever took the money from my account.
“At my behest, they only imposed a restriction on my account. Apart from that, they said they couldn’t do anything.”
After receiving what he described as an unsatisfactory response from GTBank, Babatunde said he approached OPay to explore possible recovery options.
“When I went to the OPay office that same day, their representative told me they could only act if GTBank sends them an email regarding the transaction.”
Frustrated by the responses from both institutions, Babatunde questioned why he should bear the burden of recovering the stolen funds.
“Is it my duty to start looking for who stole my money from my GTBank account? How can GTBank say they can’t do anything about the issue? All I need is my money, please.”
On Wednesday, FIJ called Joshua Folayemi, OPay’s Public Relations Manager, for comment, but he declined to comment. He requested that a WhatsApp message be sent to him instead, but didn’t respond to the message.
Efforts by NATIONAL WAVES to make Charles Eremi of the Corporate Communications department of GTB react to the allegation were unsuccessful as he was yet to respond to our enquiries as at the time of filing this report.
