In 2020, when Zhou Shengjian, a Chinese investor, wanted to open up an account in a Ugandan bank, a local business associate recommended Diamond Trust Bank (DTB).
“I have used it for many years without any issues, and as the name suggests, it is very TRUSTABLE,” Shengjian recalls the associate telling him.
So he wasted no time and opened two accounts in DTB. Like many banks in Uganda, DTB had just developed a mobile banking app to help its customers make transactions at their convenience. Its app was called Eazzy Banking.
At first, Shengjian used the bank’s app to send cash from his phone to the accounts whenever he needed. There were no issues.
However, in June 2021, his trust in the bank was broken. As he was going on with his businesses, fraudsters using the app managed to transfer Shs 69 million from his accounts in a space of two days. All the transactions on those days happened in a span of five minutes.
Here is what happened in detail.
On June 11, 2021, and 12 June 2021, cash transfers of Shs 69 million from Shengjian’s accounts were made using DTB’s Eazzy Banking App and were put on the accounts in DTB in the names of Henry Mwanja, Jesse Jonathan Kulaba Jesse, Cabei Rodríguez Filspe, and others.
Mwanja acted fast. On 11 June 11, he withdrew Shs 2 million. The next day, June 12, he cashed a cheque of Shs 15 million. He then made more transfers through the app and took another Shs 680,000 and Shs 1 million.
On the same day, another person named Isaac Katende withdrew Shs 2 million.
For two years, Shengiian tried to pursue the matter privately with DTB, but he got nowhere.
He refused to accept the loss and hired lawyers from Atlas Advocates.
In May 2023, they wrote to the bank demanding action.
DTB replied on May 11, 2023, saying the fault was not theirs.
The bank said Shengjian had registered for mobile banking on September 8, 2020, using his personal phone number. It explained there were fourteen transactions on 11 and 12 June 2021.
“Message alerts were sent to your phone number for all fourteen (14) transactions,” the bank replied in a letter jointly signed by its head of legal, Sandra Nazziwa, and Henry Ssenkeezi, the head of forensic investigations in the bank.
“From the above findings, the bank finds no fault on its part in respect to the said transactions,” the bank said.
Shengjian’s lawyers hit back two days later on May 18, 2023.
“Your Bank systems failed to control the movement of Shs 69,000,000/= which was moved in minutes from our account without any system detection,” they wrote.
They pointed out that three suspects arrested by police were known fraudsters who had cheated the bank and other banks before. Large withdrawals were made at DTB branches on Kampala Road and at Ninda, yet no staff asked questions.
They gave the bank just two working days to credit Shengjian’s account with the money.
“Expect no further warning from our client,” they wrote, warning that they would take the matter to the Bank of Uganda if nothing changed.
Meanwhile, police investigations into the matter were ongoing at this point. In June 2024, the police concluded their probe and faulted DTB.
“Inquiries into this matter point out that the bank did not manage its system diligently, enabling the hackers to access their system and steal cash from the account of Zhou Sheng Jian,” the police wrote in their report dated June 12, 2024.
Five years later, Shengjian is still waiting for his money, but the bank stands by its version of events and will not yield. The police are at a crossroads and do not know how to proceed.
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