Patricia to temporarily suspend withdrawals after security breach

●●Gift card and crypto trading company, Patricia has announced a security breach on its platform.

●●The company said only its bitcoin and naira assets were affected by the breach.

●●It has identified an individual among the syndicate responsible for the breach and it is working with law enforcement to recover assets.

Gift card and crypto trading platform, Patricia has announced that it was a victim of a security breach that compromised its bitcoin and naira assets.

In the message it sent to users, it said other cryptocurrencies and customer funds were unaffected by the breach.

However, customers will be unable to withdraw funds from the platform as it is “undergoing internal restructuring.”

While Patricia did not disclose how much of its assets were comprised in the breach, it revealed that an individual among the syndicated group perpetrated the breach has been identified with the help of law enforcement. It will continue to work with law enforcement and other partners to recover its assets.

Founded in 2017, the company has become well-known for crypto and gift card trading, a feat it says has made it become a target for bad actors. It said, however, that it is working to beef up the platform’s security.

A source close to the matter confirmed to Techpoint Africa that the breach was done by a group of people, as stated by the company. The source also disclosed that the individual identified within the group was traced through compromised naira assets. The person said most of the naira assets were traced to the individual

To beef up the platform’s security, the source said the company has hired a security firm to audit the platform’s security. Once the arm of the business — Patricia Personal — that was breached is cleared for operations, customers will be allowed to withdraw funds again.