Crypto Wallet Pulls Of Exit Scam Worth $1 Million, Company Blames Telegram Scammers

Satowallet, a cryptocurrency wallet based in Nigeria, pulled off an exit scam and with it $1 million from its users.

Founded in 2017, the company that claims to be based in Dubai is facing several complaints that began piling up on April when users of its crypto wallet could not withdraw funds. A crypto wallet is used for storing and conducting transactions with cryptocurrencies.

Users of its crypto wallet noted that the company did not seem to be doing anything to address or resolve the situation and instead pointed to several pretenses.

Amid the mounting complaints, Satowallet insisted that the issue was due to a temporary technical problem. This was a lead-up to the launch of their planned exchange, SatowalletEX.

The company eventually blamed scammers on Telegram, the messaging platform where they used to provide support, for stealing the users' funds during the maintenance period.

In June, Satowallet claimed to have fixed the issue. The company then implemented know-your-customer (KYC) measures before its users can access funds, with the verification process takings days. By August, it took a turn for the worse as the company completely went offline.

The CEO tried to water down the situation by offering a reason for their platform's deficiency, pointing blame, this time, to their data center providers, OVH.com. When Satowallet's website was restored, it claimed that all coins have vanished.

Some Satowallet users on Twitter were infuriated, directly publicizing their displeasure via comments on Satowallet CEO Samuel Benedict's tweets.

In a tweet by Benedicts on Thursday, the CEO said OVH has not been replying to its claims but had the company's Medium blog account suspended.

"Dear users, OVH could not respond to claims, but used their powers to contacted [sic] medium to suspend our account and insist that we remove every mention of their name and chats. This is more grounds for us to further our suits."

The lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency market makes it tough for investors to seek help in cases where they are not sure of their investment. While the CEO is supposedly trying to find a solution, Satowallet users worry that they are never getting their money back.