Nigeria’s and one of Africa’s largest fintech company, flutterwave
have revealed reasons why it shutdown the activities of 86fb an online betting platform.
86FB had over the week accused Flutterwave of maliciously freezing its funds, telling its members to run to flutterwave demanding for their hard earned money.
Flutterwave has however in a statement debunked the allegations by 86FB, saying that merchants on behalf of 86FB, were passing off transactions not approved by Flutterwave.
Nigerians who invested in 86FB, have begun demanding for their funds to be released even as the alternative investment platform continues to blame fintech company, Flutterwave, for its inability to run efficiently and pay up its investors.
Flutterwave’s statement also revealed that the company has no direct link with 86FB.
Flutterwave claims merchants processing transactions for 86FB breached its terms of service, as well as its regulatory requirements by processing transactions for 86FB different from the service the gambling and investment site registered to operate on Flutterwave’s payment channel.
The company said, “We are aware of reports by a platform called 86FB/86Z claiming that Flutterwave has been withholding their funds. Flutterwave is not a bank; we are a payment processor and do not hold customers’ funds including those belonging to customers of 86FB/86Z.
“A recent exercise revealed that some merchants were passing transactions on behalf of 86FB/86Za business not registered or approved by Flutterwave.
“Where transactions are done contrary to the registered nature of a business, we are required to take appropriate actions up to and including termination.
“For example, if a merchant is registered to sell tomatoes and without approvals, starts selling cars, the merchant is in breach of our terms of service and regulatory requirements.
“During our investigation, we identified direct merchants of Flutterwave who were processing transactions for 86FB/86Z without our approval or authorization to do so on the Flutterwave platform. As a result, we notified the merchants to cease processing and suspended their use of the Flutterwave platform.”
The payment platform said that following the suspension of 86FB accounts, all funds due to the merchants were settled. It, therefore, advised 86FB investors and users to approach the investment company for payment issues.
“All transactions passed through the Flutterwave payment platform are treated and settled in line with regulatory requirements.
“We also settled all funds due to these merchants. No funds currently due to the merchants are with Flutterwave,” it added.
This however has not stopped investors from demanding a refund of their investment from 86FB, as some have made it clear that their business is not with Flutterwave, but with the investment platform. Others have gone on to seek inquiries from different quarters on the next line of action to take.
86FB was established in May 2015. It is a football investment platform where you may make money by playing games that the site provides with a 96 percent victory probability.
Founded in 2016, flutterwave is a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent.