I sent an sms to intended beneficiary(IB) informing him that I'd be transferring =N=40,000 to him on the 30th May 2019. To this end, I sent my wife armed with my ATM to make a deposit and thereafter transfer to IB, on her way to the hospital for an appointment for our daughter who took ill.

Next day, IB called to tell me he didn't receive the money, whereas I got a debit alert previous day which I had deleted. After waiting all through the weekend to either have him credited or my money reversed, I made a complaint on the 3rd of June at my branch of Union Bank, from whose ATM the transfer was made and was told investigations would require 7 working days, asides weekends and public holidays, to complete.

The wait lasted on 14th June when I was told by the Union Bank Customer Care(UBCC) that beneficiary received value for the transaction. This position was echoed by the Customer Desk Officer (CDO) at my branch.

Disturbed, I had IB send screenshots of his Bank Statement which showed he did not get value, until some days later when the CDO at my branch clarified that the transfer originally intended for FBN acct 30287***** was wrongly made to FBN acct 30827***** by my wife.

To get a reversal, I was told to apply, following which my bank would liaise with FBN. Unfortunately, the CDO told me a similar case from ast year has gone cold/dead adding that it was likely safe I assumed that my money was lost. That made me channel my complaints to the UBCC rather than waste time with someone whose has clearly expressed a lack of motivation to follow through with my application.

My search has revealed the wrong beneficiary to be a female teacher who hasn't done Verification on that account, meaning she cannot draw the said amount. Meantime, successive follow-up calls to the UBCC shows that the FBN has not gone past stating that they would have to first establish contact with the wrong beneficiary before anything else happens.

This, for me, raises a number of questions:
1. What if she has lost/retired the contact phone number which is on the KYC she filled, thus making her perpetually unreachable?
2. What of she no longer wishes to use that FBN acct (like I have done to some specific bank accounts in my past) hence the reason the account hasn't been linked to her BVN all these while?
3. What if, for strange personal reasons, she shows an unwillingness to cooperate with her bank's genuine efforts at returning my money thus leaving it in escrow.
4. All the above are based on the assumption that the wrong beneficiary is not even deceased!

Given the fact that it is most likely to take multiple lifetime to get back my money, going at this rate, add this the friction this has caused between me and IB and the sundry dislocation the absence of this fund has caused for my business smooth operation, I would appreciate advise from peeps who have had a similar situation resolved and also need advise on less costly means through which I could force a prompt restitution.

Thanks for having the patience to read up till this point.