Disabled man battles bank over stolen money

A 22-year-old disabled man from Newlands in Johannesburg has not been able to access his disability grant from the South African Social Security Agency, which is paid into his bank account, due to what he believes is fraud and incompetence in the bank.

Tevan Gordon, who lives with his mother, says he has been living through a nightmare since his card was swallowed by an ATM at the beginning of February in an attempt at a routine withdrawal.

His mother, Marlene Collopen, said that on 5 February, her son, who is an FNB client, went to withdraw money from an ATM in Newlands. The card was taken and he went to the Campus Square FNB branch to cancel it.

On the same day, R2,000 was withdrawn from his account from another bank after he had been issued with a different card.

“He stopped the card numerous times and even went into the bank personally. He was told they had stopped the card but money was still being withdrawn,” said Collopen.

In a series of transactions seen by The Citizen, his card was used to make payments at several toll gates, including Boabab Plaza and Capricorn Plaza on 12 February, and Pumulani toll gate north of Pretoria the following day.

When contacted by The Citizen, FNB said it was looking into the matter but had not responded to questions by the time of going to press.

On 14 February, Gordon’s card was used again at Kranskop Plaza to pay R45 and again at Boabab Plaza and Capricorn Plaza on 19 February to pay R45 and R46 respectively.

Collopen said after they saw these transactions, they went back to FNB to enquire about the payments and to close Gordon’s account.

“FNB would not allow us to close the account because it was in the negative,” she said.

Collopen said they had been trying to get a straight answer from the bank since they first reported the matter and had run out of patience with the bank.

“At first, FNB said they would refer the matter to their fraud department. Then, we were told the investigators would get back to us within 10 working days, but no one has bothered to call and tell us what is going on.”

She added she found it odd that money was taken from her son’s account, even after the bank told them the card had been stopped.

– gcinan@citizen.co.za

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