One of the Nigerian Nollywood actresses, Ejine Okoroafor has disclosed that she almost landed in jail in Paris because of fake Euro notes sold to her by a ‘reputable’ Nigerian bank.
Okoroafor shared this via her Instagram page, saying that the incident made her become ‘ashamed to be a Nigerian’.
“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).”
The actress added 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.
The amazing actress said the incident almost got her friend in Paris in trouble as well when they went to MoneyGram to know the authenticity of the currency.
“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.”
However, the actress said that she later called the bank she got the fake Euro notes from to explain what happened, but she did not get a bad 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.”