Binance Suspends Accounts in Africa

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There have been over 130 tweets in the last hour asking Binance ‘to stop scamming,’ as the world’s largest crypto trading platform suspends or blocks accounts of African, mostly Nigerian users.

Other people posted that “scammers should stop complaining about being scammed,” and that the closed accounts are of those who committed fraud or are related to scams. Some users who retweeted the hashtag and actively accused Binance of stealing were promoting the “Crypto Africa Bet” betting website.
However, it does seem that Binance could have suspended accounts of some innocent people as well. The most common reasons for account suspension include Risk control, P2P Violation, TOU (terms of use) Violation.

“We would like to take the opportunity to remind you that by accessing Binance Services, you agree that Binance has the right to freeze your account without your consent or prior notice as per the Terms of Use,”

– a shocked Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) user screenshot a chat with Binance.

It is enough, I am a victim. My account has been frozen for about 4 months now with over $500k, mostly comprises of alts coins. Is it a crime to be an African? @cz_binance @binance #binancestopscamming #binancestopscamming

— Brown-Mi (@Mickey_Mickson) January 26, 2022
A Nigerian trader who had his entire assets on binance nearly comitetd suicide because of this. I have $400,000+ in my disabled account.They’ve been targeting Nigerians and Africans as a whole. Please save us from Binance#Binance #BinanceStopScamming #BinanceStealingCrypto

— Cynthia Chidera (@Cyndera7) January 25, 2022
Binance Stop ScammingMany Nigerians make a living from your app everyday.P2P, Staking, Futures and Spot Trading!Why cut off someone’s source of livelihood?Though Nigerians eh, we don’t read T&C’s #BinanceStopScamming #Coinbase Mistakenly, NURTW, Yinkus, Polygamy pic.twitter.com/gDBWy1QLkc

— The Only Geeflex (@Oga_geeflex) January 26, 2022

Binance Africa said that they’re investigating wrongly suspended accounts and have provided a broad explanation:

“User security is our top priority. At times, we proactively restrict accounts to protect users’ funds. Other times, we have to restrict accounts at the request of law enforcement. But never will we restrict accounts without good reason.”

On the Flipside

Only two days ago, on Tuesday, 25th of January, Binance released a blog post about educational achievements in Africa. Binance has provided free crypto classes to over 400,000 Africans since January 2020.