Unsolicited OTPs Came, Then N249,500 Left Lagos Technician’s Account. Zenith Bank Offered No Solution or Refund

Ojuede Ojuejo (a pseudonym), a technician based in Lagos, says Zenith Bank has yet to refund N249,500 that was transferred from his account to another recipient without his authorisation.

He told FIJ that he had visited the bank on several occasions and had been seeking a refund for more than a year, but the bank had not reversed the transaction.

According to Ojuejo, the problem started on January 17, 2025. He said that, on that day, he received several one-time passwords on his phone. While trying to make sense of the messages, he received an alert that N249,500 had been debited from his account.

He said he called Zenith Bank, but its customer service line did not connect. He also said he received no response after following up via email.

Ojuejo said he went to a Zenith Bank branch in Agege the following day, where a staff member attributed the incident to a compromised card. Ojuejo disputed this, saying his card had remained in his possession throughout.

He recalled that the Zenith Bank staff member at the counter told him he could have contacted the bank as soon as he began receiving the one-time passwords. But when he explained that his calls were not connecting, she asked him to return after two working days.

“I went back there, but the customer care representative told me she had sent an email on the matter but hadn’t got a response. She also deactivated my card and every form of alert. She then said I should check back in another two working days, which I did,” Ojuejo told FIJ.

He said that when he returned to the branch in March 2025, he told the bank’s staff that he was becoming frustrated with the situation but did not want to lose his temper over it. But the situation remained the same.

Ojuejo said he later took the matter to the branch’s head of operations, who, after hearing his explanation, asked him to return two working days later. When he returned, he said she told him the incident involving his account was not the bank’s fault.

“I then told her I suspected a bank official did this. She asked me, ‘Why did you come to my branch? Why didn’t you go to another branch?’ The bank staff then told me that if I wanted to pursue the matter further, I should go to the branch where I opened the account in Sango, Ogun State. I got angry and left,” he said.

FIJ emailed Zenith Bank about the matter on September 7 but, as of press time, the bank had not responded.