Man of Money
Technology has now made it easy to transfer money from one account to another while sitting in the comfort of your home with the help of a mobile phone.This has made transactions easier and safer. But that comes with its downsides too.
Pastor Emeka was not enough literate to keep up with this intriguing technology and decided he will go to his fellow Pastor, Timothy to help him out. He chose Pastor Timothy because the bank had warned him not to disclose his banking details to a second party. Pastor Timothy can be trusted because he is a fellow brother in the Lord.
One Sunday evening, after church service, Pastor Emeka went straight to his fellow Pastor, Timothy, for him to activate and transfer ten thousand Naira to his daughter Florence. As expected Timothy did an excellent job in the transfer of money and Pastor Emeka went home a happy man.
Pastor Timothy had a recent misfortune, his wife of five years died eight months ago after breast battling cancer for two and half years leaving behind two children. Fortunately, he is engaged to a pretty lady, Sandra, who now takes care of his two children from his previous marriage. Timothy would have to wait four months to complete it a year which is the church's stipulated time for Pastor to mourn his deceased wife before he remarries.
Unfortunately, Pastor Timothy had a hidden agenda. He kept the mobile money transfer PIN of Pastor Emeka waiting patiently for the right moment to strike. On a Monday morning, after a short prayer in the church, Pastor Emeka decided to charge his mobile phone in his colleague's office. That was the right moment. He quickly checked Pastor Emeka's account and found a huge money balance. He transferred one hundred thousand Naira (about $268) to his bank account. Then waited patiently for the bank to send an SMS debit alert and deleted it cover the crime.
He repeated this five times on different occasions withdrawing a total of two hundred and forty-eight thousand Naira (about $661). In one of the illegal transactions, he transferred twenty-eight thousand Naira ( about $75) to his fiancée Sandra implicating her in his crime.
There was a network problem and the bank's SMS alert for withdrawals did not come as expected for him to delete. Pastor Emeka came for his phone and Timothy tried to delay him but he insisted he wanted to go. As he was heading home, he got an SMS alert that a sum of forty thousand Naira (about $109) has been debited from his bank's account in favor of an account belonging to Timothy.
He was confused and amazed as he glanced one more time at the message. ''No, could this be fraud or a mere mistake by the bank?'' He contemplated as he walked down to seek advice from his good friend, Douglas.
Douglas took the phone from him after he had explained to him all that transpired between him and Pastor Timothy. It didn't take Douglas long to tell his friend he has been a victim of fraud. Pastor Emeka reported immediately to a local vigilante group and got Pastor Timothy arrested and they held him in the community square. Pastor Emeka was told to report to the bank and print out his statement of account for the past three months to ascertain the exact amount stolen by Pastor Timothy.
As the local vigilante waited for Pastor Emeka to return from the bank, Timothy was interrogated and he admitted to only taking one hundred and ninety thousand Naira( about $506). Pastor Emeka returned with a stamped bank's statements showing the missing money from his account was actually two hundred and forty-eight thousand naira ($661). It is obvious that he is without shame as he confessed to having only sixty thousand Naira ($160) out of the whole money he stole.
In less than an hour, the police, alerted by the bank, arrived at the community square where Timothy was held and they took him away for further questioning. As they left, different sets of people were disappointed and ashamed of this pastor's act. These include his congregation, his about to be in-laws, his spiritual followers, and a host of others who relied on him for guidance and counseling.
This is not a work of fiction, it is a true story that happened yesterday, names are changed to protect the privacy of those involved.