OPay has blocked and restricted the account of a UK-based Nigerian scholar for receiving a sum of N952,363 (approximately $2,000 USD) into his account. The fintech company cited security concerns over fraudulent account funding (inward transfer) and the need to comply with KYC (know your customer) requirements as reasons for the account suspension and fund seizure.
According to what Magnus Adakole (not real name), the victim in question and a Nigerian living in the United Kingdom narrated to Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FAJ), the financial placed a restriction Adakole's account on July 2 because he moved the sun of N952,363 into it from his Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) and Access Bank accounts consecutively.
"What actually motivated me into emptying my other accounts and putting everything in my OPay was the fact that customers get to make their first three transfers to other banks for free from their OPay accounts. The next thing I saw was that OPay termed my funds abnormal and placed a freeze on my account," he told FAJ.
“Since then, I have not been able to have access to my money. OPay restricted me from such,” he recounted to FIJ. He also shared that despite sending numerous emails to the financial institution to lift the restriction, his efforts have been in vain.
“Presently, OPay is asking me to provide CAC and business documents when all I have with them is just a savings account. Isn’t that laughable?” he questioned. “I have also asked them to let me close the account and allow me to have access to my money, but they would not respond to me. Who does that? My money?”
FIJ reached out to OPay’s customer support unit for a reaction to the allegation on Friday morning, but as of press time, there had been no response.
