A curious case of fraud within months of each on the accounts of Providence Heights Secondary School Welfare Association has been giving the Association sleepless night. Tongues have been wagging with members of the association and its executives bickering over what is deemed an insider job.

Former and present executives of the Association indicted by an independent investigation of the fraud claim have been running from pillar to post to hang the blame for the missing funds on their bankers, Sterling Bank Plc.

The indicted executive members of Providence Heights Secondary School Welfare Association customer are blaming Sterling Bank for the fraud of N1.2m and N1.7m respectively on its two accounts with NUBAN numbers 0000886683 and 0068955741.

Refuting the Association’s claim, Sterling Bank’s spokesperson, Mr. Olubukola Adejokun stated that the confidentiality and security of financial information tied to the Providence Heights Secondary School Welfare Association accounts were compromised by its executives.

A statement shared by the bank with The Witness stated: “We investigated the fraud claim by the Providence Heights Secondary School Welfare Association with the outcome indicating that confidentiality and security of financial information tied to the association’s accounts were compromised by its executives.”

According to the Bank, the protection of the financial information of its customers is taken seriously as it always updates policies and procedures to stay ahead of new strategies used by fraudsters. The bank also emphasized the need customers to understand that they have a role to play in keeping their financial information safe out of the reach of fraudsters, which is why it is consistently educating them to avoid suspicious emails, text or phone calls, and to protect their identities, smartphones and accounts.

The bank disclosed that: “The ex-chairman of the welfare account reported a case of N1.2 million after his phone was stolen and fraudulent transactions done through USSD, Flutterwave and mobile app on the 6th of July 2018. He, however, reported to the bank on 9th of July 2018 after the fraud had happened. We were able to salvage the sum of N500,000.00 and deactivated the account across our e-channel platforms.

“Immediately the issue was reported, we contacted the respective banks where the funds were transferred if we could still salvage the funds. We were able to salvage the sum of N500,000.00 and this had been credited to the customer’s account and was acknowledged by the customer.

“The custodian of the account (ex-chairman of the welfare account) failed to report incidence of stolen phone to the bank immediately it happened which would have ensured the deactivation of his account across all our e-channel platforms and ultimately prevent the fraud.

In addition, the second fraud on the Association’s account, according to the bank, was due to its linkage to one of the signatories’ personal account after his account had been profiled on its mobile platform using his registered mobile line and personal debit card details (PAN, Security, expiry date & PIN). The account recorded a curious debit of the sum of N1,746,000.00 which was transferred to two banks and also used for virtual top-up.

“The association’s executive who had his personal account profiled for mobile banking and linked to the welfare account, confirmed that he was called by someone who claimed to be from the bank and in the process, divulged his card details – PAN, Security, expiry date and PIN to this supposed staff. The divulged card details were subsequently used for the fraudulent transactions. We contacted the beneficiary banks and were only able to salvage the sum of N129,000,” the bank disclosed.

https://oraclenews.ng/suspicious-multi-million-naira-fraud-claim-tears-school-pta-apart/

Yesterday, an educated Nigerian I respect asked me to show proof that Obasanjo is corrupt. Then I understood why things are the way they are.