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A Ugandan working in the Middle East, Patrick Mulumba, has taken to social media to demand the return of his life savings withdrawn from his Centenary Bank account.
Mulumba, who claims to have been a loyal customer for over a decade, has accused the bank of mishandling his case, leaving him unable to access his funds.
He accuses the bank of withdrawing up to Shs 4.5 million before blocking the account with no explanation.
Complaint Goes Viral on Social Media
On 29th December 2024, Mulumba first posted his grievances on TikTok, stating that Shs 4.5 million was withdrawn from his account without his consent.
He also alleged that the bank subsequently blocked his account, locking up the remaining amount on the account where he had saved up to Shs 9 million.
His videos quickly went viral, particularly among Ugandans working in the Middle East, who joined in criticising the bank’s handling of his case.
In his posts, Mulumba expressed frustration, claiming, “They withdrew the money from my account and proceeded to block it. I need you to return my money and reactivate my account. We have trusted your bank for a long time; you cannot treat us like this.”
Bank Blames Fraud on Fake Social Media Pages
On 5th January 2025, over a week after the first complaint was made, Centenary Bank issued a statement addressing the issue.
The bank expressed regret over the incident and clarified that Mulumba had been defrauded by people operating fake social media accounts of the bank.
“We have engaged the customer and discovered that he communicated with fake social media pages and ended up giving out his account details which led to his account being compromised,” the statement read,
“We are determined to work together with the authorities to bring the culprits to book.”
“We urge our customers to stay vigilant, always protect their personal banking information, and report suspicious transactions,” the statement read.
Despite the bank’s explanation, Mulumba denied ever sharing his account details with anyone.
He criticised the bank’s initial response, which involved asking him to report the matter to the police, something he found impractical given his location in Saudi Arabia.
“You claim my account was hacked but have shown no proof. I am not going to be quiet,” Mulumba stated in one of his posts.
He further revealed that Centenary Bank had reached out to him on 5th January, promising to resolve his case within 10 to 14 days.
The incident has highlighted growing concerns about the safety of banking systems and the protection of customers’ accounts in Uganda.
Mulumba’s case is one of several similar ones involving an array of other Ugandan commercial banks whose customers have lost their deposits in fraud.