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A recent revelation has brought to attention an incident involving Access Bank and its alleged mistreatment of 500 USDT traders, some of whom held accounts with the bank. This issue stems from a major security breach between May and June 2023 that resulted in the theft of a substantial eight billion naira from Access Bank.

The incident has been officially reported to relevant authorities and is being investigated thoroughly. It has been ascertained that the perpetrators responsible for the breach employed the stolen funds to purchase USDT cryptocurrency from 500 traders on the Binance platform. It is important to note that these traders were unaware of the illicit source of the funds they received and were in no way involved in the substantial eight-billion-naira cyberattack.

However, Access Bank has taken a proactive approach in recovering the embezzled funds. The bank allegedly obtained a court order to freeze accounts held by the implicated traders across multiple financial institutions. In a contentious move, Access Bank also emptied the accounts of the Binance traders who held account with them, all in a committed endeavour to reclaim the misappropriated funds.

In a desperate bid to clear their names and seek assistance, these unwitting traders have taken to various social media platforms to proclaim their innocence. They emphasize that their involvement was limited to peer-to-peer trading of USDT and they were totally innocent of the theft. Many of them questioned why they were suffering from what they had no idea about. In their defence, they only sold USDT and the process of peer-to-peer trading does not necessitate scrutiny of the source of funds buyers provide. Their involvement in a straightforward trading activity has inadvertently entangled them in a complex web of legal and financial troubles.

Some of these traders have opted to seek legal recourse for the freezing of their accounts. This legal action is poised to be crucial in providing further clarity on resolving this complex issue. The forthcoming legal proceedings will be a significant turning point in pursuing justice and equity, illuminating the intricate challenges of financial transactions in the digital era, particularly within cryptocurrency.