Nigerians often live in fear of being one failed transaction, bank transfer or withdrawal away from missing a deadline, botching an emergency or getting stranded.
James Odion (not his real name), a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, found himself in such a situation in October when $500 (N852,000) sent to him by his aunt for life-saving medications never arrived in his Guaranty Trust Bank account.
Odion told FIJ it was not the first time he had received funds through Western Union.
“My aunt in New York sends money for a relative who is sick. She usually sends it for his treatments through Western Union, and it gets credited to my account,” he explained.
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He had no reason to suspect anything would go wrong this time.
“Previously, the money came in normally without issues,” Odion said. “But this particular one she sent on October 30th didn’t reflect in my account. If you check the Western Union website, it shows that the money was paid, but it’s not in my account.”
Western Union’s Tracking Portal indicating Odion’s Transfer has been delivered.
Familiar with the occasional delays that could occur, Odion decided to wait a few days before escalating the issue. To be sure, he confirmed the transaction’s status on Western Union’s tracking platform, which indicated that the funds had been successfully credited to his bank.
When the money still did not show up, Odion visited a GTBank branch the next working day. What followed, he described, was a frustrating cycle of evasive responses and endless back-and-forth.
“They’ve been taking me back and forth, saying, ‘Go back, bring this, bring that,’ or, ‘We’ll discuss it with the people online.’ Just different things,” he told FIJ.
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Odion suspected he wasn’t alone. “I went on Twitter to check if it was a general problem, and I saw other people complaining about similar issues with GTBank,” he said.
True to his observation, numerous X users have shared experiences similar to Odion’s.
On November 11, Itunuoluwa, an X user, recounted shared his ordeal. “Today makes it one week and three days since my WU transaction got stuck and not cleared to my account. I don’t want to do this, but now I have to. Who is not doing their job? Why are you asking for a ‘Session ID’ to simply clear my money to my account?” he posted.
Likewise, Aigbe Daisy, another X user, wrote on November 13 about a N455,064 transaction that hadn’t been credited to her GTBank account.
“A Western Union transfer of N455,064 was sent to my GTBank account on October 18, 2024, and I am yet to receive this money to date. Western Union has confirmed it was deposited with you, yet I haven’t received a penny,” she posted.
Another user, Carse, launched a public campaign on X on November 5, tagging GTBank after weeks of unsuccessful attempts to retrieve her money through official channels.
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FIJ reached out to GTBank regarding Odion’s case. In their response, the bank advised that Odion contact his account officer again to resolve the matter. “Kindly advise him to contact his account officer to enable him resolve the issue. The account number is not provided, and information will not be given to a third party,” GTBank said.
Odion, however, remains sceptical.
“I’ll try again, but I’ve been trying to get the bank to at least resolve this or tell me what’s going on for so long,” he told FIJ.
The post 6 Weeks on, GTBank Withholds N852,000 Western Union Transfer Meant for Entrepreneur’s Sick Relative appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.