A Lagos resident, Adeola Olatunde, has alleged that he lost ₦2 million through two unauthorised transactions after his Access Bank debit card was retained by a First Bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) during a cash withdrawal attempt.
According to Olatunde, the incident occurred on March 20 when he visited a First Bank ATM in the 7UP area of Lagos after unsuccessfully trying to withdraw cash from an Access Bank ATM in the Ketu–Magodo area. Since it was a public holiday and banking halls were closed, he opted to use the nearby First Bank ATM.
He said the machine retained his debit card while he was attempting to withdraw ₦10,000. After waiting for about 20 minutes without retrieving the card and finding no security personnel available to assist, he left the premises and returned to work.
About 30 minutes later, Olatunde said he received two debit alerts of ₦1 million each, bringing the total unauthorised withdrawal to ₦2 million. He later discovered that the funds had allegedly been transferred through a Point of Sale (PoS) terminal into an OPay account.
The customer said he immediately returned to the First Bank branch to report the incident before proceeding to an Access Bank branch, where officials helped block his debit card to prevent further transactions.
Since then, Olatunde said he has made several visits to both banks in an effort to recover the funds. He also submitted complaints to the Consumer Protection and Financial Inclusion Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and, through his legal representatives, formally petitioned both financial institutions.
According to him, First Bank informed him that CCTV footage from the day of the incident could only be released upon an official request from his bank. He said Access Bank later requested his photograph to assist with identifying him in the footage, but he has yet to receive any update on the outcome of the investigation.
Responding to the complaint, First Bank stated that the matter had been forwarded to the appropriate department for review and assured the customer that efforts were underway to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Access Bank also confirmed that the complaint had been escalated to its investigation team for further examination of the two unauthorised ₦1 million transactions.
More than three months after the incident, Olatunde said he is still awaiting the outcome of the investigations and the recovery of his money.
