I couldn't keep myself from weeping as tears flowed freely down my cheeks despite trying to be strong.
On Tuesday night, a family relative came to visit my family at our house and stayed the night.
We decided to have bread and eggs with tea before retiring to bed. So, he gave me his ATM debit card to use to withdraw some money that we were going to use to make dinner. The amount I withdrew was about $3. It was all we needed.
I collected the card from him and made my way to a POS store near where we live. When I got there, the transaction was successful and I was paid my money. Leaving there, I walked to two other vendors on the same street to get the beverages I needed. I walked straight home after all that.
I thought I had given him his balance and his debit card when I got home. I didn't think about whether I had left it with the POS vendor or dropped it on the road. It didn't occur to me at all until Wednesday morning. He had already stepped out and I had begun my work for the day.
Not too long after, I received a call from him saying that I had not given him his ATM card. He confirmed that he had checked where he usually keeps it, but that he was unable to find it.
At that moment, I got confused. I started checking every corner of the house but still could not find it.
As a result, I decided I should speak with the POS vendor to see if I had forgotten it. When I asked, she told me she had given it back to me. I walked to the other vendors and asked them if they saw an ATM card near their store. They both said no.
I was still confused. Before I realized what was happening, he called me again and told me he had just received a debit alert.
At first I thought he was pulling my legs and was just trying to scare me. So I asked him to send a screenshot. He replied saying that he was already on his way to our house.
Lo and behold, when he got to our house, I collected his phone and checked the messages. Two alerts were sent that morning. The first alert was a debit of N50,000, which is about $62. The other alert was a debit of N10,000, which is about $15. Altogether, that's about $77.
The hacker, the thief must have tried other amounts and realized that he had withdrawn all the money that was in the account.
How did they get the pin?
From the description of the transaction, the ATM card was taken to a distant location.
It was after the deed had been done that he quickly called the bank's customer care and had the ATM card and account blocked.
I couldn't continue my work because we had to get to the bank quickly. On getting to the bank, the customer care person that attended to us confirmed that the account had been blocked. First, we made inquiries to make sure that it would not be accessible to hackers after it had been unblocked.
We requested the unblocking of the account after gathering all the facts.
How it affected me.
We later returned to my bank and wasted and wasted another 5 hours there trying to get an instant naira master card. You can imagine.
I needed the master card so I could get a pin to transfer all the money that was needed to be sent. Before then, I didn't have a card and the transfer limit was very small.
As a result of the stolen money being the money his customers sent for the products they ordered, I had to take responsibility for it.
I had to transfer all the stolen funds not to his account but to the account of the supplier. This was done with the money I had been saving to pay my house rent next year. I had to do this with the money I had been saving. Was still scared that it might not be safe to put the money there.
Now I must save money for rent to start over. Previously, I was excited that it was almost done.
Lesson learned.
I have to be EXTRA- careful with any debit card I handle. It is possible that the pin printed on the card was what was used in hacking into that account. For the life of me, I can't figure out how they knew the pin and stole all the money.
As if all this misfortune wasn't enough, I returned to complete my work for the day. You may recall that I work online as an editor on a news site. I got home and tried inputting my password, but kept getting a message saying it was incorrect.
As I looked closer, I noticed that the number keys had suddenly stopped working. I don't know how it happened. Funny enough, I wasn't home yesterday to use the system.
As it is now, I can't unlock the laptop. It's just there. I can't even work because of it. I don't know why all these things are happening and it is making me feel overwhelmed.
Repairing the keyboard is another expense waiting for me. I don't know what to do, I'm just tired.
I've learned that life and death is in the tongue, so even in this difficult situation, I still need to say positive things. I will come back strong.
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Oh dear... Take heart, you're going through alot! The level of insecurity and theft in our environment is alarming! I'm so sorry this happened to you
It's pain my heart that had to happen, God sees all things
Oh... So sorry life is kinda cruel to you at the moment but sure you will get over it...
Yeah, It is well.
I'm hopeful that it will all be good soon.
So sorry about this... I hope you'll come back stronger.
Yeah, thank you.
This is very painful and I feel your pain.. And a lesson was also learned in this. Those hackers are everywhere.
Scammers are everywhere, no human feelings again. I guess the pin on front and cv2 is enough for the scammer to withdraw the money. Sorry about the money, May God compensate your loss. I hope you get your laptop to work
That's what I suspect, the person must be an expert at stealing what isn't his or her. Humans truly have no feelings.
Having the mind to steal all on one hard-earned money just like that. The person couldn't even take some and leave the rest, they made sure it was emptied. Hmm
I had to go buy an external keyboard for my laptop.
Thanks for the concern.
So sorry, I can feel your pains.
I hope he or she, gets arrested soon
That's if he or she gets unlucky the next time they try to steal.
As it stands, They got away.
Your situation is unfortunate and I am sorry that you have to go through all this. You have to learn your lesson the hard way and I'm sure you'll be more careful from now on. Cheer up, I'm sure you'll recover from this.
Yeah, it was like a dream wanted wake up from, unfortunately, it was real.
I've learned to be EXTRA careful.
It's just sad that some humans no longer have a conscience.
Thank you
This is so painful
So sorry dear
It is really sad... people dont care at all... they'll go ahead to deprive you of your freedom, money or life, just for their satisfaction and selfish gain...
I believe and I know you'll bounce back, little by little... you are strong! and I know you'll get stronger and better, and you'll overcome this
Thank you Ksam, I'm hopeful and staying positive.
Sorry to hear about the loss you had, but wisely you have saved your remaining money. Online scams affect me badly as I confronted this at once. It is not always easy to keep working as regrets happen but sis I hope you will be careful and more strong afterword this incident. Dreemport dropped me here.
Thank you, sis. It's not a nice experience.
The feeling of having nothing and starting all over, it's not a great feeling but I am hopeful and will stay positive.
Jessica, I feel for you dear. It is not easy to facs such a financial loss when you have it all for your expenses. The pin of ATM can be taken by multiple methods. Sometimes, they just attach a device to ATM machine and take the information you put in the machine.
Sending you a little tip to help you repair your keyboard so that you may keep up with your work.
I feel so bad because before that money was stolen, I was managing what I had out of the savings for daily expenses.
When it happened, I had to pay back and spent more out of my savings because of the unexpected expenses.
Now, everything is RED and it makes me feel so sad.
But I am just going to stay positive despite it all.
Thank you.
Jessica, you are certainly in a bad state of affairs. May God give you more powers
Amen, thanks
🤗