Microfinance Bank Allegedly Defrauds Over 200 Market Women in Lagos

The police is currently looking to arrest employees of a microfinance bank in the Oyingbo area of Lagos who allegedly defrauded over 200 women of their savings.

According to Punch, there was confusion at the bank located on Atitebi Junction on the Old Apapa Road, Oyingbo, when the women got to the bank where they had opened accounts but discovered it was deserted. The aggrieved women had been reportedly told by the bank to come last Monday to get loans after making three months’ savings, only to discover that the bank officials were nowhere to be found.

It was gathered that the bank, which used a three-room apartment in a storey building at the junction, started giving out forms around September to the victims, who were mostly market women. While some of the women deposited N21, 000 hoping to be given loans of N150, 000, others paid in N15,000 to be lent N100, 000. Some others also deposited N7, 500 hoping to be lent N50, 000.

The women were given forms and account booklets where savings were ticked after each deposit. The bubble, however, burst last Monday when some of the women who had been told penultimate Friday to come for their money, got to the bank at about 10am and met the rooms under lock and key. They were said to have raised the alarm and started to call other women who were customers, causing a gridlock on the road. The rowdy scene was controlled by policemen from the Iponri division who enjoined them to make a formal report.

One of the women, who gave her name as Yakubu Rukayat, said:

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“Over 200 of us were affected. We were shocked to meet their doors locked on a Monday. The rooms are empty. The door is locked. Look at the form I filled and the passbook they gave me. I deposited N15, 000, and I also brought my sister to pay in N21, 000. Most of us are market women from Oyingbo, Makoko and Ebute Meta. On Friday, I still came to the bank and people were depositing the money. I noticed that one of the officials – a lady – asked people to hurry so that they could take their forms for processing. We did not know it was a scam. How will I get all my money back?”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joe Offor, said the police had invited the landlord of the property for questioning and efforts were on to get the runaway officials of the microfinance bank.