By Oluwayemisi Oloyede
A middle aged man, Mr Faseesin Joshua Adetona of Oja Odan in Yewa North local government area of Ogun State has accused Sterling Bank Plc of allegedly blacklisting his Biometric Verification Number (BVN), over alleged illegal transaction by unknown person.
In a petition written by counsel to Mr Faseesin, Gbeke Laditan and sent to Fraud Manager of the Bank and copy of which was made available to Our Correspondent, Mr Faseesin alleged that Sterling Bank Plc illegally blacklist his BVN thereby restraining him from transacting accounts with his banks
In the petition titled, "Complaint of Illegal blacklisting of Mr Faseesin Joshua Adetona BVN, demands for the details of the fraud and documentation of the account used in perpetrating the fraud and immediate removal of our client BVN from the blacklist', said the action of the Bank has caused untold hardship to him and the family.
The letter reads
The petition stated that on 18 of November, 2021 he had gone to United Bank of Africa branch at Ilaro to withdraw an amount of money and on getting to the branch he was informed that his BVN has been blacklisted and as such he will not be able to make any transaction(s) on any of his bank accounts
"On enquiry by our Client from the officials of the branch, it was discovered that the blacklisting of his BVN was based on a complaint from
Sterling Bank Plc.
"The following day, our Client visited the nearest branch of Sterling Bank
Plc at Abeokuta and supplied his BVN to the officials with the aim of tracing out what the complaint was and it was at Sterling Bank Plc branch at Abeokuta that our client was confronted with the fact that an account bearing his BVN has been used to perpetrate fraud. There and then he told them he had never at any point been a customer of Sterling Bank Plc.
"Since the blacklisting of our client BVN, he has not been having access to his money in his bank accounts and as such could not attend to his and that
of his family members basic needs till date.
"We hereby demand that your bank furnish us with the details of the fraud ile the
Name of the Account Holder, the Account Number, the Address of the Holder of the
account, the Mandate of the Account, Holder's signature and the Statement of
Account of the said Account from inception till date.
"We are also demanding that the documentation of the account be furnished our
office i.e the Application Forms, the Mandate Card (if any), the Passport photograph
of the Account Holder, the Identity Card of the Account Holder e.t.c.
"We are by this letter requesting of you to remove the BVN of our client from the
blacklist and allow his bank account to be operational pending the detailed
investigation into the fraud to disclose the True Identity of those behind this crime.
Based on the petition, Our Correspondent gathered that the Bank thereafter responded with a letter dated, December 13. 2021.
The response claimed that "our investigation revealed that your Client's Sterling Account Number was the
recipient of fraudulent transfers to the tune of N3,973,493.00 (Three Million, Nine Hundred and Seventy Three Thousand, Four Ninety Three Naira) which was subsequently transferred to his UBA Account and further dissipated to other accounts.
"The above-mentioned incident is currently of investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), whereupon we advise your client to visit/reach out
to the Commission to.clear himself.
But Mr Faseesin who felt that he was not pleased with the Banks explanation and based on the fact that he had not opened any account with Sterling Bank wrote another letter through his counsel, maintaining and reiterating "the fact that our client had never been a customer of
your bank till date and if any account has been fraudulently opened in our client's
name we beg of you to furnish us with the details of the account and that of the
alleged fraud.
"That to our client surprise, you claimed the proceeds of the fraud was subsequently
transferred to our client UBA Account before being moved to other accounts. And our client's investigation revealed that no such amount of money or any amount of money was ever transferred to his said UBA account till date.
"Mr Faseesin thereafter attached a copy of his UBA statement of account covering the period of 1st
of January, 2021 till 18th of November, 2021.
Based on the foot dragging Mr Faseesin also petitioned Central Bank of Nigeria to wade into the matter.
But speaking to Our Correspondent, a Staff of the Bank who pleaded for annonmity said the account was opened through a virtual process.
"In such a situation, the fraud may have been committed within the Bank contract staff without the BVN owner knowing".
He alleged that those that allegedly performed the fraud may have done that deliberately as when a virtual account is opened the maximum fund that can be withdrawn from such account should not be more than Two hundred thousand naira.
Mr Faseesin while speaking with our Correspondent said he suspected foul play as he had never patronize Sterling Bank Plc or use his ATM cardw with any of the branch of the Bank before.
He revealed that on one of his enquiry, he found out that truly his BVN was used to commit the fraud but the picture used was not his, neither was the money transferred to any of his account.
He called on Sterling Bank Plc to do proper investigation into the matter, while requesting for the immediate lift of embargo places on his BVN.
"I am a poor Nigerian who cannot afford to feed his family since the embargo, all my children can not go to school as we are unable to pay their fees, all my money is trapped in the bank, Sterling Bank should not punish the innocent over the acts of abnormally
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