Market women defrauded by some unknown microfinance bank workers

The workers of an unnamed
Microfinance bank who obtained
money from several market women
under false pretense are currently at
large shortly after commencing
operations.
Market_Women There was confusion
at a certain microfinance bank
located on Atitebi Junction on the
Old Apapa Road, in the Oyingbo area
of Lagos state when no fewer than
200 women got to the bank where
they had allegedly opened accounts
but discovered it was deserted.
According to Punch, the police in the
State are on the trail of the
employees of the said bank who
allegedly defrauded the women of
their savings.
The bank, which reportedly 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.
Reports say the aggrieved women
who were given forms and account
booklets where savings were ticked
after each deposit, had been 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. While some of the women
reportedly deposited N21, 000
hoping to be given loans of N150,
000, others were said to have paid in
N15, 000 to be lent N100, 000. Some
others also deposited N7, 500 hoping
to be lent N50, 000.
However, trouble started when some
of the women who had been told to
come for their money on Friday, 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.
Policemen from the Iponri division
were said to have arrived to pacify
the women and enjoined them to
make a formal report for
investigation, because the wailing
women caused a gridlock on the
road, during which some of them put
calls through to the phone numbers
on the form, but the lines were
reportedly switched off.
Speaking on the incident, one of the
women, who identified herself as
Yakubu Rukayat, said she had
deposited N15, 000, and brought her
sister to contribute N21, 000 hoping
to get the loans.
According to her, “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.