FRAUD: How Equity Bank ‘swindled shs30m’ from customer account in new wave of bank fraud

As the new wave of fraud inside Ugandan banks, a section of Ugandans have recently come out to pin Equity Bank for fraud after losing millions in unclear circumstances.

The customers who have come out accuse Equity Bank management of acting negligently and carelessly even when they report the frauds made on their accounts, which convinces them that maybe the Bank is behind these continuous frauds.

Maxwell Lawrence Muyonjo is the latest confessor about the suspected fraud at Equity bank Uganda. He lost Shs 30.6 million. And to top it off, they even applied for shs500,000 instant loan and also took it. He feels the bank’s insiders know one or two about how it was pulled off.

“I have also been a victim of their internal fraud. I was robbed of Shs30.6 million through mobile banking and here is my story,” Maxwell Muyonjo narrated in a letter to local tabloid Red Pepper.

“On 16th December 2022, I lost my mobile phone at the night and the next day on Saturday, 17th December, someone accessed my mobile banking. They managed to reset my mobile banking PIN and withdrew or transferred up to Shs30.6M out of the account and to top it off, they applied for an shs500,000 instant loan and took it also.

Maxwell says he reported the issue to Equity bank and also lodged a case with CPS -Kampala.

“On 19th January, 2023, [over a month of waiting] Equity called me to pick up a letter with their feedback regarding this theft. The feedback shared states that the thieves reset my mobile banking PIN and received OTP since they had my sim card. That the thieves completed the second level of authentication using my VISA Card [which was in my possession till to date].

“Equity bank [in their report] cannot explain how thieves obtained my VISA Card details. Also, before they reset the PIN, they logged into USSD and conducted two balance enquiries,” he adds.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

“I in turn have carried out my own investigation and their response raises the below questions and subsequent findings.

ONE: Equity has two mobile banking Apps running i.e Eazzy App & Equity Mobile and the USSD *247#. The Eazzy App is the old App which takes a 4-digit PIN whereas the Equity Mobile is new and takes a 5-digit PIN.

The USSD takes the 4-digit PIN used on the original Eazzy App. In August 2022 while at one of their branches, I was advised by bank staff to upgrade to the new App as it was more secure.

This I did and uninstalled the old App from my phone. However, it turns out that both these Apps are running and the thieves managed to take out the shs500,000 loan from the old App that I thought I had got rid of by registering onto the new App.

Equity says as a customer, it’s upon me to tell them to discontinue or delete my profile from the old App but they insist on running both Apps because they have not completed the migration and upgrading all services onto the new App. How is this the customer’s problem?

They are surely not protecting us if my old profile is available, yet I think I have upgraded to a new and better App!

TWO: Their daily transaction limit for mobile banking is UGX 50 million! This is not restricted to the usual lower limits of UGX shs800000 to 2M that most banks have in place except if customers take it upon themselves to request a limit increase. They, therefore, aided in the shs30.6M loss that took place in a single day. This is truly unacceptable as customers are exposed.

THREE: The receiving Equity bank account withdrew the funds on that same day of transfer and routed to other mobile numbers. On investigation by police i.e. issuance of a court order to equity to provide the account opening documents, they seem to have disappeared or never been in existence. They could only share a photo of the account holder and their national ID. The question here is how was an account opened without KYC or account opening documentation. Is this a well-planned crime syndicate operating within Equity?

FOUR: How did the thieves successfully reset my PIN using the VISA Card that I had in my possession on the day PIN was reset? Currently on the new Equity App, in order to reset your PIN, you receive an OTP and then complete the transaction by either answering some of the security questions you set at registration, contacting the call centre or physically visiting equity. The option for inputting card details is not available.

“Upon complaining to CPS-Kampala, they were not surprised it was Equity bank. Apparently, there are numerous complaints and cases lodged by customers to the Police regarding a theft on their mobile and internet banking—out of 10 cases, 9 are from Equity. One policeman even commented and said, “Equity will never allow to pay you that money, and if you are wise, you will close your account and RUN.”