How PAYCOM Nigeria Limited removed money from journalist’s Access Bank account after declined transaction

In recent times, financial service providers and customers alike have been faced with the persistent problem of e-banking fraud.

 

This was as a Nigerian journalist, Bartholomew Madukwe, called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to sanction financial service providers who fail to add value to money debited from people’s accounts.

 

As technology has evolved, society has become more sophisticated, and fraudsters have gained more dexterity in the act of swindling people of their hard-earned money.

 

Madukwe explained that on April 1, 2022, he went to a POS at Ilogbo area of Oko-Afo, Lagos State, for withdrawal of N30,400 (N400 as service charge). Unfortunately, the transaction was declined and the operator with GSM 07013789853 returned only his Access Bank ATM card, saying the transaction was declined.

From skimming to phishing and card swapping, fraudsters have acquired many tactics to cleverly divest unsuspecting customers of their funds.

 

Madukwe explained that he received an alert indicating that the said N30,400 has been debited from his Access bank account.

 

“I approached the POS Operator for the N30,400 and he declined, saying the transaction failed.

 

Below is a copy of the debit alert:

 

“On 5th April, 2022 (4 days later), having not seen a reverse of the N30,400 that was withdrawn from my Access bank account while POS transaction was declined, I went to the nearest Access bank branch at Agbara (near PHCN office at Bank road) to officially register my complaint. I was given a complaint form to fill and return, which I did.

 

“At 4:35PM, I received a message from Access bank saying, “Dear NWABUISI MADUKWE, your complaint has been received. An update will be sent to you on 4/12/2022 3:30:00 PM. Case number: CAS-11379471-L5Y2H1”.

The journalist asserted that on the 14th April, 2022, he went back to Access Bank at Agbara and after over three hours of waiting in the bank, the Customer Care attendant said the financial service providers (PAYCOM NIGERIA LIMITED) could not log in to ascertain his claim.

 

According to him, the Relationship Manager, Victor Nwachukwu, pleaded with him to be more patient since the N30,400 is not in the bank’s possession.

 

Speaking with Nwachukwu on the development, he pointed out that financial service providers, such as POS have always been causing such issues between account owners and banks.

 

“If it were a transaction that was done in the bank or through a bank’s ATM, that would have been resolved in no waste of time. But now, we have to wait for the PAYCOM NIGERIA LIMITED to return the money and we will now reverse it to the account it was debited from.

 

“I know that it will be reversed but I do not know when. Such issues are best dealt with if it were from one bank to another bank, but certainly not POS providers.”

 

As of the time of publication, Madukwe’s N30,400 was yet to be reversed and PAYCOM NIGERIA LIMITED, through its agent, has requested for another 72hours to enable them to verify his claim.