On a Sunday afternoon in September, Adeyinka Lasaki, a Nigerian civil servant, watched helplessly as a cascade of debit notifications hit his phone, wiping out a total of N977,124 from his GTBank profile. The stolen funds consisted of N568,908 drained directly from his savings, alongside a newly approved N408,215 loan obtained without his consent.
Recalling the incident, Lasaki explained that the breach took place on September 20. The moment the first alert arrived, he attempted to intervene, but the GTWorld mobile app stopped responding and barred him from logging in until the cybercriminal had completed the illicit transfers. By the time he could regain control to freeze the profile, the attacker had already emptied his funds and secured credit in his name.
Seeking a resolution, Lasaki visited the bank’s branch at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) the following day, but staff members were dismissive. Follow-up visits to other locations yielded no progress. Instead, bank officials eventually told him their internal review was concluded, that the bank could take no corrective steps, and that he was still obligated to repay the unauthorized loan.
A media inquiry directed to GTBank regarding Lasaki’s situation went unanswered prior to publication.
