Olachi Ndukwe, a Twitter user with the handle @olakhisha, has narrated how N450,000 was deducted from her Zenith Bank account after her Zenith app was ‘hacked’ in early October.
In a series of tweets she released on Tuesday, Ndukwe said the incident happened after she lost two debit cards belonging to First Bank and Zenith Bank respectively two weeks ago.
She went on to say she thought she had prevented ‘hackers’ from gaining access to her accounts when she used the respective banks’ service codes to block the lost cards.
READ ALSO: Nurse Tries in Vain to Pay for Licences — And Zenith Bank Won’t Refund N104,000 Already Deducted From Her Account
“Few weeks prior to this, I lost my wallet which had my First bank and Zenith Bank ATM cards in it. I immediately blocked both cards through the self-service codes. Same day, I got a new First Bank card. Weeks later, I tried doing some transactions and realised the Zenith App couldn’t function without a card / token. I had none,” Ndukwe wrote.
Few weeks prior to this, I lost my wallet which had my First bank and Zenith bank ATM cards in it. I immediately blocked both cards through the self service codes. Same day, I got a new First bank card. Weeks later, i tried doing some transactions and realized the zenith app…— Dr Ola Sandra Ndukwe (@olakhisha) October 18, 2022
“I went to Zenith Bank and requested for a new card and an E-token. I logged into the Zenith Mobile App and discovered both the “lost” card and the current card were showing “Active”.”
Ndukwe said she immediately complained about her discovery to a customer service agent she met at the bank but was told that the lost card was still inactive.
However, Ndukwe said she was further denied access into the App and was unable to deactivate her card or account.
“I complained and the customer service assured me the stolen card was not active. Also, I was not receiving credit and debit alerts on my phone. Same customer care person claimed my alert service was “on”.
“Fast forward to two weeks ago, I tried logging into my app and noticed I couldn’t have access to my app. It showed Register. I didn’t understand why the usual login wasn’t displayed.
“My gut instinct told me something was definitely wrong. This was by 5:23pm. I made several attempts to log in, all proved abortive. Immediately, I received a code from Zenith Bank. I knew there was a problem. My friend and I tried blocking the card and account but it repeatedly showed read an error.”
Ndukwe said when she could finally access her account by 5:33 pm, N300,000 had been withdrawn and in less than an hour, an additional N150,000 had left her account.
The hacker whose ID was displayed in the transaction receipt is one ‘Khalid Adeboyega Siyanbade’ who had spent the money swindled from Ndukwe on gamble.
Screenshots of Siyanbola deducting money from Ndukwe’s account.
“By 5:33pm I succeeded in logging into my app via the E-token. A total of 300k was already withdrawn at this time. I got to the bank, no one to was available except the security. They tried blocking my account, same error. They reached out to the banker,” she wrote.
“They repeatedly said *dial*9…bla bla. Same thing I had been doing for over 30mins. Like, do I look like I’m a fool? I was asked to send an emergency mail to Zenith, I did…to no avail. I sent this mail by 6:30pm. They replied after 1hour. By then I had lost 450k.
“As an individual, I was trying every possible means to stop whoever it was that had access to my app since the bank obviously couldn’t help. It was at this time I found out that two devices were active at the same time: My phone and ACCOUNT MANAGER (sic).
READ ALSO: Customer Suspects Zenith Bank Employee in the Unauthorised Deduction of N180,000 From His Account
“I finally succeeded in deleting the account manager. By 8:13pm, Zenith Bank replied my mail thst my account has been blocked. Funny. But this is why I am making this post…. The name of the person that had access to my app is there with his account details.
“All the transactions they made. The account details etc. The most painful part of this is that they used 100k to play “Bet”. My hard-earned money.”
FIJ contacted Zenith bank via email, but they were yet to respond as at press time.
The post Zenith Customer Blocked Her Debit Cards With the Bank’s Self-Service Code. Still, Hackers Stole Her N450,000 appeared first on shishi.ng.