A Nigerian lady identified as @itzchristunique on X (formerly Twitter) has recounted how she narrowly avoided falling victim to a suspected fake bank transfer after receiving an alert for ₦500,000.

According to the lady, the money appeared to have been transferred into her OPay account, shortly after which an unknown number contacted her by phone.

Stranger Requests Refund

The woman said the caller informed her that the ₦500,000 had been sent to her account by mistake and promised to provide another account to which she could make a refund.

She reportedly agreed to the arrangement before making an unexpected discovery.

According to her, the supposed ₦500,000 transfer had not actually reflected in her account balance.

Realising that the alert could have been fraudulent, she immediately blocked the stranger’s phone number.

Story Sparks Reactions

The incident has generated reactions on X, with several users warning others about the increasing use of fake bank alerts by fraudsters.

Joe stated:

“You did well, these days I don’t believe in alerts anymore, if it doesn’t reflect in my account, then it’s fake”.

Resh noted:

“Congratulations you’re now aware of this one. It’s been going on for a while now”.

Arike wrote:

“They do this a lot. I knew someone close that did this to her mom. She fell for it though”.

Moh added:

“What you got is not an alert from a bank’s notification system. It is a calculated bulk SMS system that allows people to edit and recreate messages that look like genuine bank alerts. Fraudsters use this very well. A bank’s SMS notification system is triggered by an actual transaction”.

The experience has renewed warnings about fake payment notifications, with social media users urging people to verify their actual account balance before refunding money based solely on an SMS or other payment alert.