GTBank Yet To Explain N3.1m ‘Missing’ From Customer’s Account 11 Months Ago

Despite having a password on his SIM card, immediately blocking his SIM card with his network provider, and having Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) secure his account right after losing his phone, Banjo Adedayo still lost N3,130,000 from his bank account. This incident unfolded after his phone was stolen by some men in his estate in Ogun State on the morning of Monday, April 17, 2023.

To safeguard his funds, Adedayo quickly reached out to his mobile service provider to disable his phone line and also contacted GTBank to put a lock on his account.

“After losing my phone, I tried to withdraw money using my GTBank ATM card to check if my account was secure, but the machine said my account had been deactivated. The same thing happened with my Zenith Bank ATM card because I had blocked both accounts for safety,” Adedayo explained.

Three days after the theft, Adedayo retrieved his SIM card and visited a GTBank branch in Ogun State to remove the restriction on his account. However, the very next morning, he discovered that all his N3,130,000 had been cleared out. Despite lodging complaints with the bank and the police, his efforts to recover the lost funds were futile.

“I woke up to the rudest shock of my life on April 21,” Adedayo recounted. “An email notification led me to find that all my hard-earned N3,130,000 had vanished. The bank only printed me a statement of account in response, and the police couldn’t help me recover my money.”

Reflecting on the situation, Adedayo suspects that the theft was an inside job, especially given the layers of security he had implemented. He recalled a peculiar interaction at the bank: “I was tired and wanted to leave, but this female cashier insisted I wait. Later, she called me from her personal number to talk about things unrelated to my banking issues. The next morning, my funds were gone. I’m convinced it was an insider’s doing. It’s been nearly a year, and I’m still demanding restitution.”