On Monday, August 21st, a popular Twitter account, @PIDOMNIGERIA, made a tweet about Favour Ori, the founder and CEO of PayDay. The tweet accused Ori of using his app to illicitly obtain funds from Nigerians and other unsuspecting individuals across Africa.
These allegations included “dubious exchange rates,” the imposition of restrictions on withdrawing or transferring funds for customers, effectively rendering them inaccessible, and a lack of responsiveness to customer complaints.
This is not the first time the CEO, Favour Ori has been publicly accused of these offences as the comments section below the tweet was replete with narratives from impacted customers.
These customers had either relinquished their funds due to account restrictions/lockdowns or had decided to delete and move on from the platform altogether. Among these responses was one Twitter user’s assertion that this marked just one of many scandals attributed to the company founder.
Roughly two months prior, Technext released a report that emerged from a sequence of customer grievances. These concerns revolved around situations where individuals were ensnared in scams while utilizing the platform, leading to unapproved deductions from their accounts or discrepancies in the displayed funded amounts.
Regrettably, the affected users did not receive any form of compensation or reimbursement from the platform despite the unauthorized nature of these transactions. One of the sources who is a user and also a cybersecurity expert however claimed the Payday app has numerous glitches and bugs that affect the app’s functionality.
Read Also: Red Flags Abound; the story of Payday, “an alternative for virtual cards and global payments”
What does Payday have to say about recent allegations?
In light of the latest allegations, Payday has taken a step forward to confront the assertions regarding the prevalent account limitations that numerous customers appear to be grappling with as of late.
In a statement shared with Technext, Favour Ori, the CEO of Payday, clarified that the entirety of these unfavourable encounters has stemmed from technical predicaments with the company’s service providers.
These technical challenges, according to Ori, have had a direct impact on the calibre of services rendered by the company, leading to the reported problems.
We sincerely apologise for the poor experience you have faced this past few weeks on the Payday app. Unfortunately, we have been tackling technical issues with our service providers which have affected the quality of our services. Nonetheless, we are committed to resolving any existing issues with the Payday platform and restoring your trust.
Favour Ori
The CEO also said it identified 2,000 accounts carrying out suspicious activities and has implemented a temporary restriction on the accounts. He clarified that an account might be flagged for several reasons.
This includes the detection of unusual behaviour associated with potential fraud, non-compliance with regulations set forth by important governing bodies or the company’s internal policies, and instances where the security of a customer’s account has been compromised.
In some cases, account restrictions might affect innocent people, but after due diligence such accounts are unlocked and the customers may continue to transact freely.
The CEO further outlined that for card transaction errors, the company has terminated its partnerships with previous card service providers for payment transactions. Instead, they have introduced a different card option temporarily while they work towards resolving ongoing reconciliation matters.
Also, as part of this transition, the company is discontinuing support for the existing cards and transferring any remaining balances on those cards to the respective customer wallets. The company aims to complete this entire process within a timeframe of three weeks from the date of this statement, as indicated by Favour Ori.
Again, we assure you that your funds are safe and we will continue to provide updates as we progress.Thank you for your patience and we look forward to continuously serving your needs.
Nevertheless, even though this could be viewed as a positive move in terms of company ownership, a significant number of users have flocked to the company’s Twitter page to express their frustration about an unexpected issue: an inability to access their accounts, despite multiple One-Time Passwords (OTPs) being sent.
In response, Payday says, “Hi, We apologize for the inconvenience. Kindly try again now. It should work just fine. Please contact us via our in-app chat if you require any further assistance. We’ll be happy to help!“
This comes after a time span of either 10 hours or 9 hours subsequent to these customers voicing their concerns through the social media platform.
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