Thread by @AyoBankole

So yesterday, my own mum became a victim of fraud. She lost her phone, immediately told @gtbank to block her account & called @AirtelNigeria to block her line.

Everything in this country is meant to kill you, even in your old age. Thread.

Ofcourse @AirtelNigeria was unreachable in their usual unreliable customer service.

@gtbank claimed to have blocked, only for her to see over N200k had been transferred from her account yesterday. She wasn’t allowed to access the details until she unblocked.

@PoliceNG is doing back & forth. @gtbank wants her to retrieve her line before they can give her the details of the fraudster on HER OWN ACCOUNT. Airtel will take 24HRS to reactivate line. In all these, the criminal is probably spending the money, gone into hiding or 1bn things.

The old woman is there, sad & helpless, asking me if there is still any point in me staying in this country with my family.

I’ve told her not to worry; promised I’ll help her solve this. Every freaking thing in this country is designed to either exploit, frustrate or kill you!

UPDATE ON MY MUM’s FRAUD EXPERIENCE- MONEY REFUNDED!

As promised to my mum, I was dedicated to helping her resolve this; and we did. In 24hours. As I earlier said, the system is designed to exploit, frustrate or kill unsuspecting citizens- from Police to fraudsters to services.

This morning, having finally retrieved her line, my mum got her bank statement & saw it was over 320k that was stolen. I wrote to GTB Exec. Mgt, including the MD/CEO, DMD, Co. Sec., Head of Compliance, E-Fraud Unit, UBA eFraud, CBN CPD, CPC etc. I also petitioned @officialEFCC.

The sections of the CBN Framework for the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), quoted in the mail are here attached. I also sent the full document to them, along with her bank statement. I believe @gtbank can do better to safeguard our money. Kudos to @cenbank.

Shortly after, I got a call from @gtbank, apologising for the inconvenience & promised to resolve. This evening, my mum called that she had been refunded. She was super ecstatic. Thank you GTB for the swift response. But such frauds are preventable. @PoliceNG is slow & corrupt.

The @officialEFCC has also promised to commence investigation before 30days,after which I can follow up if I don’t get a call. Today, my mum was happy that she toiled to get me educated. But I couldn’t have done it w/o everyone that sent a DM & offered help. Twitter is a family.

Govt must do more to protect citizens. Security of life &property is the fundamental principle behind the Hobbesian social contract theory. A govt loses its right to lead once it fails at this. Nigerians are often helpless in the face of daily robberies; extortions; rape & death.

We must continuously demand better security & living standards. No mum deserves to feel as helpless as my mum felt yesterday. Please arm yourself with the right information in cases like this. May God protect us all from evil. Thank you for the show of love. God bless you. End.