A Nigerian artisan, Clancy Owie, has been left frustrated after United Bank for Africa (UBA) informed him that it could not recover over ₦200,000 withdrawn from his account through unauthorised transactions linked to a betting platform.
Owie had earlier disclosed that on February 26, his account was debited twice in quick succession, with a total of ₦200,107 transferred to a SportyBet account. He insisted he had no connection to the platform and does not engage in gambling activities, making the transactions both shocking and suspicious.
According to him, he immediately contacted UBA the following day, February 27, to report the incident. The bank advised him to wait for 23 working days while it carried out an investigation. During that period, he said he received no meaningful updates or feedback regarding the status of his complaint.
After waiting without any response, Owie said he decided to reach out to the bank again on the date he had initially been asked to expect feedback. During that follow-up, a customer service representative reportedly told him that the bank could not reverse the transactions.
The bank’s explanation, as relayed by Owie, was that his account credentials had been compromised. According to the representative, an unknown individual gained access to his login details, used them to sign into his mobile banking app on another device, and initiated the transfers to the betting account.
Owie, however, questioned how such transactions could have been successfully processed without additional layers of verification or alerts that might have prevented the loss. In response, the bank maintained that the transactions were authorised using valid login credentials, thereby limiting its ability to intervene.
The representative reportedly apologised but emphasised that the bank was not liable, stating that the breach originated from the exposure of Owie’s personal login information rather than any failure on the bank’s part.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about digital banking security, customer protection, and the level of responsibility financial institutions bear when unauthorised transactions occur through compromised user credentials.
