The news:
- Crypto exchange, Patricia plans to repay customers between two and five years.
- The company said it chose this time frame for "expectation management purposes.
- While it claims to have repaid 24% of customers, comments from several customers suggest only a handful of customers have received any form of payment.
After eight months of being denied access to their funds, Patricia's customers might have to wait up to five years before receiving any form of repayment.
In an email sent to customers, the company said its repayment plan will take a minimum of two years and a maximum of five. This is while some customers say they've not been able to get access to their money for over a year before Patricia announced it suffered a hack.
For such customers, this brings their total wait time to three to six years.
Odd payment criteria
Last year, the company announced it would start the first batch of payments to customers on November 20, 2023.
While it claims it has paid 24% of the customer owed, an email seen by Techpoint Africa to one of the customers revealed that they were required to create a video testimonial to confirm receipt of payment before they could get paid.
The company explained that "this added verification step is in place to enhance trust and ensure a secure process for everyone involved."
What happened to the investors?
Last year, sources at DLM Capital, — the company Patricia hired as an escrow for customer repayments — confirmed that Patricia had investors willing to help the company get back on its feet. Sources close to the company also told Techpoint Africa that the company had successfully raised 90% of what was needed to repay customers.
However, new sources say the company never got investors as it had to lay off employees sometime in 2023. They noted further that the company was not doing well and needed to cut staff to survive.
Responding to the allegations, a representative from the company said that there were no layoffs and the company only fired employees to "optimise people's ROI, and not necessarily because the business was not doing well."
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Meanwhile, Techpoint Africa reported on January 11, 2024, that the police had identified new suspects connected to a ₦142.8 million hack on Patricia.
In its email to customers, Patricia also confirmed that the trial of arrested suspects will start in June 2024.
This information, has, however, not put customers at ease as they continue to plead with the company to get their money back.
