The management of a leading financial services technology firm based in Lagos, Patricia Technologies has reaffirmed its commitment to 100% repayment of its customers, who were affected by the security breach of its cryptocurrency trading platform, even as the company is yet to make full recoveries.
Penpushing reports that Patricia Technologies in 2022 experienced a major cyber-attack, resulting in the loss of depositors’ funds worth over N600 million, and the company has since been cleared of any suspicion as the National Cybercrime Centre of the Nigeria Police (NPF-NCCC) established that the culprits were a prominent politician, Wilfred Bonse, and three other suspects arrested in November 2023.
The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Hanu Fejiro Agbodje affirmed that the company has recently kept its side of the bargain with its customers through continuous repayment, and have been able to keep to its words.
“Over the last couple of months, we have been able to keep our words. In December last year (2024), we made out some payments to customers. And in late 2023, we also made out substantial amount of fund against the customers, keeping to our original commitment to our customers to see everybody refunded”, he said.
Penpushing further reports that the leading financial services technology firm earlier in 2024, had requested for a two to five-year repayment window to enable it generate sizeable income from business operations and law enforcement recovery efforts, for the purpose of repaying customers and consequently, rebuilding trust.
The company boss explained that the establishment has unshaken belief in the cryptocurrency industry in Nigeria and the African continent, emphasizing that it believes that opportunities are always available, and that it will be able to make back what it had lost”.
Penpushing also reports that the first firm to introduce cryptocurrency in Nigeria in 2017 and make it mainstream, Patricia Technologies admitted that the breach of its otherwise secured platform in 2023 was perhaps its most challenging period.
The Chief Executive Officer learning from that experience, said that, given the deluge of fake news and the fright around cryptocurrency, customer trust and security are major factors in the sector, explaining that customer trust is the biggest thing in the industry.
‘Customer trust is the biggest thing in our industry, considering the amount of fake news and the fear that surrounds crypto as an asset cloud. Security is top notch and I will urge everybody in the industry to invest a lot of money and time on it’, Agbodje said
‘You can do your best, but they will still find the loopholes because people are always building every day. Even the biggest companies in the world have experienced security breaches. You have to create a reserve fund so that, in the case of unforeseen circumstances, you have access to reimburse customers, ensuring that you have top notch security, do security audit frequently to ensure that the platform is top notch’, he added
Penpushing reports that he dismissed the notion that the platform’s security was not sufficient, pointing out that it was more of the human factor as opposed to a technological error, adding that the company has stepped up its security network.
“We had very good security at that time. The issue with risk is, the biggest risk is the one not conceived. There were some loopholes in our system that they were able to exploit. It was more of the human factor as opposed to a technological error. Since then, we have stepped up our security and our customers have been very happy with the service we are delivering to them”, Agbodje stated.
Penpushing further reports that the Patricia Technologies boss thanked the law enforcement agencies for diligently fishing out the culprits, adding that the cases around the cyberattacks were being prosecuted.
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