Hi everyone,
Here is an end-of-week status update.
The ongoing investigation with our partners at Moorwand and Mastercard continues, following the attempted de-frauding of our Debit Card program. Whilst frustrating and highly inconvenient, the platform is secure, as are all user funds, and the resulting financial impact to our business is minimal.
However, as a result the Debit Card program remains deactivated until next week.
We understand that service downtime is frustrating - especially given how new the Debit Card is - but security, and indeed improvement of security must be our utmost priority. This requires thorough review and testing with our partners.
Fraudulent Debit Card Users
Over 300 accounts are alleged to have directly committed financial crime via our platform. All individuals have been locked from the hi Platform and have been reported to the relevant authorities in their markets, including a full report detailing personal information relating to KYC, IP Address, Telegram ID and the alleged fraudulent transactions.
Furthermore, as our investigation unfolds, we can see that many more accounts are involved, though less directly, as funds have been transferred between accounts using the SEND function and other methods. This complicates matters and expands the scope of the investigation.
Finally, we are aware of several bad actors masquerading as honest hi members in our Telegram groups, in an attempt to salvage stolen funds. Once again, this means we need to treat our review with even greater care. We apologise to those legitimate members that have been impacted by this.
Criminal Telegram Groups
We have also been made aware of some Telegram Groups encouraging financial crime against the hi Platform, as well as offering cash in return for legitimate IDs to bypass KYC. Please remain vigilant and report any users you suspect of such activities to your local Telegram moderator.
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IBAN Deposits
Some members reported that deposits they made to their IBAN during App downtime did not show in their account, as a result of them being halted by our banking partner’s systems.
>> 26 of the deposits reported missing have now been processed and are showing in member’s accounts.
>> 15 are being processed by Moorwand and will show in accounts very soon (we were hoping by today, that might still be the case, though it’s getting late).
Account and Fund Freezes
As part of our investigation, a small number of legitimate members had their accounts locked and, in some cases, funds frozen/deducted, as a necessary step in order to identify the bad actors and prevent platform loss. We apologise sincerely to those legitimate members affected by this.
>> 9 legitimate members have now had those amounts re-credited to their accounts, and their accounts unlocked. They will also be notified by email.
Un-credited Refunds
There are a number of members waiting for legitimate refunds to be credited. The issue here relates to settlement. So while we know from Mastercard that the legitimate refund occurred, in many cases the settlement funds have yet to be credited to hi via our banking partner. We are working with Moorwand to accelerate this process, and in the meantime we thank you for your patience. Don’t worry they WILL be credited to you.
Over-Crediting Due to System Refund Error
A small number of members were over-credited funds due to a system refund error between our partner’s systems and our own. Their accounts were thus locked as part of our investigation, which also showed a number of fraud users amongst this group.
>> 12 legitimate members have had those funds clawed back from Flexible, and will be notified via email. Again we apologise for the inconvenience to these members, their accounts will be unlocked imminently.
Subscription Rebates
As our card program is in its infancy, we asked members to submit subscription rebate requests via a Form while we finalise the automated process via our App. We will credit these HI rebate amounts to members next week. We thank you for your patience.
