We have heard of this happen countless times. You find a vendor offering the best quality of a service or product at the best price possible. After reaching an agreement, you make payment and then wait for delivery and then… nothing. You call and the number is suddenly unreachable. At first you blame the network then you realize, YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED!
But the big question would be how you get your money back after falling prey to a scam vendor.
Here’s what to do:
- Take a screenshot of the chat you had with the online seller across social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Write down the complete name and account information of the vendor who defrauded you, you can also supply the name of the account holder you paid to.
- If you used your mobile app or sent the payment via USSD, check your transaction history and grab the ‘Transaction ID Number’ from that transfer.”
- Send an email to the E-fraud team of the bank from which you sent the funds as well as the bank of the recipient account, with proof of the transactions and forward a copy of the mail to CBN FRAUD DESK. All banks have a team in charge of online fraud. This will help the bank to place the scammers account on hold.
- If you don’t have their email address, you can walk into your bank or the scammer’s bank, and speak to the customer service in charge of fraud to file a complaint.
- Your bank will direct you on further steps to recover your money.
- Report to the police and also speak to a lawyer to file a court order. Banks are not authorized to release personal information of account holders unless there is a court order instructing them to do so. With a court order, the bank will release the information of your scammer to the police to help track them and recover your money.