Receiving an alert should mean excitement, but an unexpected bank alert can quickly become anxiety for both parties at once: the person who mistakenly sent the money, and the person who received the money suddenly trying to decide whether to return or spend it.
Over the past few years, stories involving wrongly transferred money have become increasingly common across Nigerian banking and fintech spaces. Somebody sends money to the wrong account because of one wrong digit in the account number, a saved beneficiary error, or a rushed transfer. Then comes the hard part: trying to recover the money. 
Sometimes the recipient refunds immediately. Other times, the situation turns into weeks of calls, begging, screenshots, police threats, social media exposure, court orders, and public dragging.
The issue is not even the mistaken transfers anymore. It is how normalised the refusal to refund the sender’s money has started becoming.
Recently, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) reported the case of a Nigerian woman, Akanbi Aisha, allegedly trying to recover ₦300,000 mistakenly sent on the 6th of January 2026 to the OPay account of Elooghene Olakpe. This case was reported by her daughter, Shakiroh Akanbi, after both appeals and legal efforts reportedly failed to produce immediate results. According to the report, even after a court order was obtained, the reversal process allegedly remained unresolved since the 11th of February 2026.
This has become recurrent. Almost every week now, social media carries news of these happenings with people trying to create awareness: “Please help me repost.”, “I mistakenly sent my school fees to the wrong person.”, “The person blocked me.”, “They withdrew the money immediately.”, “The bank said I should get a court order.”
At what point does keeping money mistakenly sent to you start to feel normal? Legally, that money was never yours to start with.
The Legal Implications
Under Nigerian law, particularly sections 383 and 390 of the Criminal Code Act, a person may commit an offence by knowingly refusing to return money wrongly transferred into their account. Once the recipient becomes aware that funds entered their account mistakenly, deliberately spending, hiding, transferring, or refusing to return the money can potentially fall under fraudulent conversion, unjust enrichment, or even theft-related offences under existing legal frameworks.
The Process of Recovering Money Transferred Wrong is Cumbersome
If you notice you’ve done that you’ve sent money to the wrong person, reach out your bank immediately to dispute a transaction by providing details such as Transaction ID, Date, Amount, and the incorrect account number. Request a “Post No Debit” (PND) freeze on the recipient’s account to prevent withdrawals while the issue is under investigation.
If the recipient agrees the transfer was an error, the funds can be reversed. If they refuse or have spent the money, you may need to hire a lawyer to seek a court order for reversal.
The sender may take legal action to recover the money, including filing a civil claim for repayment. In some cases, the court may order the recipient to refund the full amount, pay applicable interest, and possibly cover legal costs. The matter may also attract criminal investigation or prosecution, which could result in penalties, including imprisonment, if the offence is proven.
The recipient’s account may be restricted or frozen during an investigation, and the person may face banking-related consequences depending on the bank’s policies and regulatory findings.
Beyond the law, there is also the moral aspect that people keep ignoring. People now glorify theft all in the name of a miracle they prayed for.
A lot of these mistaken transfers are not disposable income. Sometimes it is rent, hospital bills, school fees, business capital, salary, or even feeding money.
One wrong digit and somebody’s entire salary is gone. Yet some people encourage keeping money that clearly does not belong to them.
You now see arguments like: “The sender should be more careful.”, “Na God bless me.”, “If banks can make mistakes, why can’t customers?”, “Once it enters my account, that is my luck.”
Why This Issue Persists
Perhaps the rise of fintech platforms has also intensified the situation. Transfers happen faster now. Money moves instantly across multiple apps. But dispute resolution still often feels slow, exhausting, and inconsistent for ordinary users.
People are now discovering that recovering wrongly transferred money can involve police reports, petitions, bank complaints, lawyers, court orders, and months of stress, all because of one transfer mistake.
This reflects the reality of society itself. Economic hardship has made desperation more visible; people are struggling financially and the pressure to survive is real, but hardship should not erase accountability. Once society starts normalising the idea that “if accidental money enters your account, keep it,” the trust and the system itself start collapsing.
Anybody can make a wrong transfer or can press the wrong digit. Anybody can become the victim tomorrow. The same people defending the refusal to refund today would most likely panic tomorrow if their own salary, rent money, or tuition fees got sent into the wrong account and somebody decided to “claim destiny” with it.
WRITTEN BY LAWANSON REBECCA
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