Imagine a beautiful afternoon, you’re busy trying to get some work done. Suddenly, you receive an alert on your phone of a debit transaction on your account that you did not authorize. Before you can get up you receive another one, then another, all in quick succession. This scenario continues to play out daily as people are fleeced of their hard-earned money.
If you have not experienced this, that’s great. The information presented here will aid you or help you aid someone else if or when such a scenario happens. If this has happened to you very recently, still read on to know what steps to take.
The first and most crucial step is to immediately contact your bank. You should call and ask them to place a restriction on your account. Some banks provide a service in which customers can do this themselves either through SMS or mobile applications. You should select the means which is fastest for you. This guide contains a list of all the banks in Nigeria and how to reach them to make a report if you become a victim of ATM card fraud. I advise that you save the contact details of the bank(s) that you use on your phone so that in an emergency you won’t lose precious time looking for such details.
After contacting your bank to lock down the affected account, you should try to calm yourself and begin to think of other ways you might still be at risk. If you have other accounts with funds that have an active debit card, you should lock down those too till you can make some sense of what is happening.
You then need to put yourself together and begin some serious self-assessment with regards to the affected account. You should ask yourself if you might have inadvertently exposed your card details such as pin and card number. Try and gather up as many details as you can and head over to your bank and make a formal complaint.
Below is a table of banks in Nigeria and ways you can contact them if you are a victim of ATM fraud.
Also, if you use USSD Banking, the codes of various banks are listed below in case you lose your phone and need to deactivate your USSD banking profile.
If you are not satisfied with the response of your bank after making a formal complaint, you can seek further redress with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The CBN has a Consumer Protection Department (CPD) where you can lodge a complaint against Financial Institutions regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria such as Commercial Banks, Micro-finance Banks, Primary Mortgage Institutions and Discount Houses. You can do this only after two weeks has elapsed from the time you submitted your formal complaint at your bank. You can contact the CPD through the following channels:
mail: cpd@cbn.gov.ng
Letter: Director, Consumer Protection Department
Central Business District, Abuja
Your letter of Complaint should be addressed to the Director, Consumer Protection Department. You should submit your letter at the CBN Head Office or at any of the Central Bank of Nigeria branches nationwide.
Your complaint should be clear and concise to avoid ambiguity. The Complaint letter (petition) should contain amongst other things the following:
• Name, address, contact phone number & e-mail of the complainant;
• Name of your financial institution;
• Personal banking details (Do NOT include PIN & passwords, please;)
• History/date of the transaction in dispute;
• Amount claimed (if any);
• Attach relevant documents to support your claim and
• Evidence to show that you have first lodged the complaint at your bank.
If you’re still not satisfied with the way both the CBN and your bank are handling the matter, you can further escalate to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). The complaint must clearly state the following:
- The party complained against with the correct address
- The amount involved
- The expected redress
You should also attach proof of transaction and any other document to support your claim. You can submit your complaint through the FCCPC website at https://user.fccpc.gov.ng/ or at any of the commission’s offices nationwide.
If you find these steps a bit confusing and would like assistance, you can reach out to us and we’ll help at no cost. Just send us an email at fraudir@nogofallmaga.org or reach us through our social media handles.
15 Responses
Will blocking my ussd account affect my Atm transactions
I don’t it would, but you can always ask the customer service of your bank.
Please some one used my master card details to fund his pigyvest account through paystack and i have called pigyvest they told to go to my bank and file a fruad claim. With a police report so how do I go about the police report.
You can get a police report at the nearest police station to you. Also, keep us abrest of the situation via mail at connect@nogofallmaga.org so we can offer further assistance.
Someone used my card details to fund his sportybet account. He bypassed the otp section because I received the otp but didn’t give it out. I don’t know the person and I don’t know how he did it. I just got his name from spprtybet and they refused releasing any other information about him
Hello Sunday, we have sent you an email.
You can get a police report at the nearest police station to you. Also, keep us abreast of the situation via mail at connect@nogofallmaga.org so we can offer further assistance.
Someone used my sportybet account to withdraw money from my first bank account to my sporty bet account,then withdrew the money to sterling bank account that I know nothing about.
Please how do i retrieve my money?
Good day Obialor,
we have sent you an email, kindly respond.
someone used my account to fund his Opay account of #47,950,now I’m stranded i don’t know what to do
Please check your email, we sent you a mail.
Please there was a OTP code sent to me to transact money to Palm pay and before I know,I was debited twice,please have gone to bank but I’m not satisfied with their response,is there assurance for my money recovery and what step can I take
Kindly fill the form at this page and we’ll get back to you https://nogofallmaga.org/report-scam/