A Nigerian actress, Ejine Okoroafor, has revealed that she narrowly escaped being sent to jail in Paris over some fake Euro notes that were sold to her by a ‘reputable’ Nigerian bank.
The actress took to her verified Instagram page to share her ordeal, stating that on that fateful day, she was ‘ashamed to be a Nigerian’.
She wrote, “Thursday, the 16th of September, I was ashamed of being a Nigerian. At a mall here in Paris, I went to purchase some items and I was told the Euro notes I had were fake. I bought the money from a well-known bank in Nigeria (PTA).”
Okoroafor further stated that she took the money to a bank in Paris and the cash machine seized the money and provided her with a receipt that the money was fake.
“I took it to a bank and a cash machine seized the €2,000 that was rightfully placed and rejected the last squeezed €500 with a receipt that the money is fake (because I was advised to pay the money into an account and withdraw in smaller denominations that they hardly spend (€500),” she added. [sic]
According to her, the incident almost got her friend in Paris in trouble as well when they went to MoneyGram to know the authenticity of the currency.
The actress said, “I asked my friend who lives here to help me with the transaction. So, we took the surviving €500 to MoneyGram to confirm its authenticity and we almost got into trouble; they wanted to call the Police on us.
“We eventually had to visit the Police station for her to report the incident to avoid her account from getting blocked or being negatively affected by this situation.”
Okoroafor claims that she later called the bank to explain what happened, but she did not get a favourable response.
“Meanwhile, I called the bank manager when the ATM seized the money, to let him know what had happened. He said I should have called him when they told me at the mall; I should not have gone to the bank. I should return the money.
“Apparently, he said they had been told to stop issuing that cash and I was never alerted. The alert would have helped me to be cautious.
“Dear Nigerians, avoid the big denominations for now if you need to collect via PTA system to travel. It is a real big shame. Thank you.”