January 18,2023

I never knew Wallets Africa is a fraudulent platform. I came across the platform when the CBN said we could not exceed 20 dollars on our naira debit cards. I can’t even withdraw my money.”

Those were the words of Blessed-Osbert Inyang, an Akwa Ibom State-based medical practitioner whose N148,450 has been withheld by Wallets Africa, a cross-border payment platform, since last year.

While speaking with FIJ, Inyang accused Wallets Africa of keeping mute after denying him access to his money. He said he opened his Wallets Africa account in July 2022

The medical practitioner also said it took the intervention of FIJ for his account to be verified even though he had submitted all the necessary documents.

“They kept dragging for more than a month. Meanwhile, I had transferred N49,950 to the account on August 30, 2022, and was charged N499.50,” he said.

“I needed to buy some dollars at the time, but I couldn’t. When I tried to withdraw the money, I was told that I was not verified. That was when I first contacted FIJ, and my account was verified afterwards

Inyang said he still could not withdraw the money after verification, so he decided to use the money to buy some dollars on September 30.

Although Wallets Africa deducted the money from his naira card immediately, he said his dollar card was not funded.

“Both my naira and dollar wallets are still showing zero till now,” said Iyang.

“After some months, I read that they had rectified the issue. I then topped up my naira wallet with N100,000 on November 16. After they had taken their commission, I was left with N99,000.”

Inyang told FIJ that he’d been unable to withdraw his N99,000 since November. The N49,000 he also used to purchase dollars in August has not reflected.

According to the Akwa Ibom resident, the platform would show an error notification and a reversal every time he tried to withdraw the N99,000.

“I have reached out to them on all their social media platforms, but they are not responding. Even the number on their website is fake. It’s not going through. You will see them posting every time but they ignore my messages,” he said.

Wallets Africa could not be reached for comments as the messages FIJ sent on Monday had not been responded to. The company’s phone number was also switched