A Customer Accuses Housing Finance Group Of Stealing Millions Of Shillings From Her Account
A woman claims that a significant sum of money from her account at House Finance Group's Rehani branch in Nairobi has gone missing.
Nancy Musyoka, who spoke to the Standard Gazette, said that roughly ksh5 million ($50,000) was mysteriously stolen from her account and that her appeals to the bank for assistance have fallen on deaf ears.
According to her, everything was going well after creating the account in 2005, and even after transferring to Germany, she could continue roll over her account every three months, deposit money, and receive account information such as statements through email from Peter Njunge, customer relationship manager (former).
However, things changed in the summer of 2019, and she began receiving account information later than usual. Whenever she confronted Mr Njunge, he blamed the system and eventually recommended that she split her account into three.
Ms Musyoka, taken aback by the rapid turn of events, phoned some bank personnel, only to discover that Mr Njunge was no longer a member of the group. How Njunge kept sending her bank statements even after leaving the bank remains a mystery to her.
"I heard every imaginable excuse from him about the status of my account." "From the IT system being down, which is why he would email me statements from his personal Gmail account, to new management delaying the process to being on vacation," Ms Musyoka explained.
She discovered that ksh1 million ($10000) had vanished from her account to make matters worse. Further investigation of her account revealed that more money was missing and lost interest rates due to rollover.
She brought the issue to the attention of House Finance Group CEO Mr Robert Kibaara and branch management, who promised to look into it.
Mrs Jerusha Igombo, Rehani branch manager, was then assigned the matter, which was also assigned to an employee named Ms Edita Naitore.
Ms Musyoka learned from Ms Naitore that her contact information had been modified internally without her knowledge to represent a contact number of a woman unknown to her.
Part of the missing money was eventually refunded, and the bank's management, through Mrs Igombo, informed her that the local authorities were handling the situation, and the police were on the lookout for the offender.
The irate woman claims she has been denied access to her account.
"While some of the stolen money was repaid and verified in writing, other amounts remain unaccounted for." Furthermore, there is an apparent lack of openness and responsibility, and I am still unable to access the account.
"After numerous complaints, a new girl from the bank named Imelda Muganda contacted me with bank statements that did not reflect the entire period of banking with them." "I demanded comprehensive statements, but to no effect," Ms Musyoka stated.
Muganda, according to Ms Musyoka, had asked her to fill out an account information update, which she declined.
She reported the situation to the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) after being taken around the circle by the bank. Still, Ms Musyoka is yet to hear back from the regulator.
“I consider the theft and mismanagement of my money, the fraud committed to my disadvantage, and a possible attempt by the bank to cover up the fraud, a risk to the public, especially when it comes to trust in institutions we entrust our money with,” read part of a letter she wrote to Mr Gerald A. Nyaoma, Director of Bank Supervision, CBK.
An effort to get the company to comment have been futile as the email sent has not been replied to.
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