A day after a Kenyan on the popular social media platform Twitter wrote about funds mysteriously disappearing from his mother’s account with Equity Bank, more and more Kenyans have come forward with similar cases and are now, via #BoycottEquityBank on Twitter asking customers who entrust their money with the bank to be very wary.
ALSO READ: Equity Bank Refunds Widow Her Sh900,000 After Online Uproar
In a well-orchestrated, perhaps inside job, the victim had allegedly gone to replace her ATM card when staff at the bank opined she should instead opt for an Equitel Simcard for easier accessibility.
Equitel is a mobile virtual network operator in Kenya which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings and uses the Airtel Kenya network as its carrier.
While applying for the Simard, the staff allegedly guided her through a shoddy process (like switching off the sim card for a specific amount of hours), taking advantage of her low knowledge of tech, and managed to rip her off of sh900,000 in a period of 2hrs.
How did a number she registered yesterday end up in the hands of fraudsters on the same exact day? Does the bank have customer data protection?
They took away all the money. On top of that my mum is sick, how is she supposed to manage this?
— Cerebral Assassin (@xysist) September 29, 2020
This is not the first time such is being heard, over the last 2 years TechSpaceKe can round up to more than two dozens of Kenyan users only on Twitter who have complained of finding their accounts emptied out after getting advised to apply for the Equitel service.
The thieves even go as far as taking out loans and leaving innocent customers in major debt. There has been no urgency from the company to deal with the mobile money fraudulence that is being reported massively and until such issues are openly addressed, banking with Equity bank could be a bad idea.
Discover more from Techspace Africa
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.