A customer of Diamond Bank, Idong Harrison, who is the Managing Director of Idong Harrie Limited, has lost over N600,000 as a result of internet fraud carried out on her account.

On June 8, 2017, the customer said she tried logging in on the Bank’s mobile app but it was not accepting her password.

Harrison called the Contact Centre and was advised to visit the branch for password reset. She made up her mind to visit the branch next day.

She said she noticed a message on her phone, but did not bother to check as she was busy in her shop, but got worried when alerts kept dropping on her phone.

She said she tried calling the Contact Centre on her way to the Ogunlana Branch in Surulere, Lagos, but the alert kept coming even while she was on her way to the branch.

When Harrison got to the branch, she lodged her complaint, but unfortunately all funds had been fraudulently moved before the staff could block the accounts.

Harrison was called by the bank on the same day to confirm what happened and was assured that the bank would investigate and do its best to assist in recovering the funds.

She said she was still receiving “Registration Code text” so the bank put a lien on her account on the same day.

The complaint was investigated and concluded on July, 10, 2017 though the outcome was sent to the branch on July 17, 2017 for implementation of recommendation.

The customer was duly advised on July 18, 2017.

Diamond Bank was said to have found out that the customer compromised her login details: PIN, ID Password, Online Login, during a device change.

Harrison indeed during her visit to the bank confirmed that she received registration codes on her mobile phone.

The customer was advised via a letter dated July 18, 2017 of the outcome of the investigation and also that the bank was able to secure funds moved to other accounts in the bank, over N600,000, and this was to be credited to her account.

The bank also informed the customer that some other monies were being traced at other banks and the investigation continued.

This letter was received and acknowledged by her relative as she was out of the country and sent to her via email as requested, seeing she was out of town at that time.

The bank equally had a meeting with Harrison in the third week of August, where she insisted that she did not compromise her login details.

She alleged that it is possible the Teller she met at the Branch had connived with fraudsters as the Teller encouraged her to buy $4,000 when all she needed was $400 for her trip to the US.

She threatened to involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria and other regulatory bodies if the bank failed to refund the total sum.

The bank went ahead to investigate this latest claim regarding the Personal Travel Allowance purchase.

A source within the Bank said: “We carried out a second level investigation on this and confirmed that the teller or the bank are not liable.

“The customer was verbally informed of the second investigation outcome and she threatened to use other means to recover the funds, insisting that the bank was to refund her entire money.

“The bank called the customer first week in September to inform her that work was still on to get the funds transferred from other banks that they were able to hold.

“She requested for the details of the beneficiaries again on the ground that some of her friends working in the other banks wanted to assist.

“The beneficiaries’ names and amounts transferred were given to her.

“The bank called the customer again between the last week in August and second week in September, 2017 to provide updates on the recovered funds and she mentioned that the bank should be able to track down the other beneficiaries at large using their BVNs as they are not ghosts.”

Harrison was assured that the matter was not over and the bank would continue to trace and work with the authorities to recover what they could and she gave the bank an ultimatum that she would proceed with legal action if her funds were not returned completely by mid October.”

Diamond Bank refused to comment on the issue, saying the case with Harrison was already in court.

The court papers were served on the bank on September 14, 2017.