P2P Trading in Nigeria: You fit lose money when you nor do any bad things?

[casey15]

I see this post on X where people say bank freeze their account after they receive money from P2P transaction. The one wey really get me be say according to the post, the person do P2P with him okay and then them restrict him account saying the money wey him receive na fraud money.
The money de involve with fraud of about 4billion and them don share am across different banks. My own na because say why them nor hold the funds the first time wey e enter the main fraud account.... maybe them be never investigate, so when them find out, wetin make them nor contact bybit and also freeze the money from bybit because right now na innocent Nigerian wey nor even know anything they collect the punishment.
Them say e fit go challenge for court or refund the money.. so if him return the money, wetin him go gain in return, funny how be say nor be only him don get the experience. All these things na dey make centralised exchange dey somehow. I get say them dey try protect the victim of the fraud, so what about these other victims wey there acc don dey restricted.
How Una think say this thing fit take resolve, because crypto don already get him own risk and now person go come still dey fear P2P vendor make him nor go receive fraudulent money... Because in the end na him go lose..
.Any body for the forum don experience this kind thing before?. So many questions still dey wey never make the matter clear sha. but wetin Una think sha

[Bitcoin-Forever]

Isn't this sudden amount of money questionable to be sincere? How on earth can someone just land with four billion in his account, and you expect the financial institution not to investigate the source of that money?

If I were him, I wouldn't be that daft as to have converted all this money into Fiat currency; instead, I am going to just use an instant swap to have them in other coins in cryptocurrency and hold them in my wallet, or invest in Bitcoin and have the coins in a non-custodial wallet, rather than exchanging everything into local currency, which raises suspicious alerts.

[casey15]

Isn't this sudden amount of money questionable to be sincere? How on earth can someone just land with four billion in his account, and you expect the financial institution not to investigate the source of that money?

If I were him, I wouldn't be that daft as to have converted all this money into Fiat currency; instead, I am going to just use an instant swap to have them in other coins in cryptocurrency and hold them in my wallet, or invest in Bitcoin and have the coins in a non-custodial wallet, rather than exchanging everything into local currency, which raises suspicious alerts.

Not the victim... The total amount of fraudulent money is the 4 billion... So the 300k is from the 4billion which has already been scattered across 21 different accounts. The person complaining has no knowledge of the 4 billion You get now??

[Livingleged]

Personally bank never freeze my money before say I receive bad money from p2p but I don hear different people stories about how bank they freeze their money from P2P. For me no be anybody I see for p2p zone I they trade funds with, I must check your numbers of successful orders and if e no dey above 98% completed order I no go follow you trade. I no dey receive money from p2 p for any of my bank account but other fintech company like OPay or PalmPay I feel they are easier and do lot freeze suspicious transactions like how banks act so fast. I believe Na why I never get this kind experience from trading on p2p before.

[Curious T]

My own na because say why them nor hold the funds the first time wey e enter the main fraud account.... maybe them be never investigate, so when them find out, wetin make them nor contact bybit and also freeze the money from bybit because right now na innocent Nigerian wey nor even know anything they collect the punishment.

Whenever I hear stories like this, I always think this. The stolen money was in an account, and it was in an account in a Nigerian bank, so why didn't they freeze the account since or stop him from transfering any money out of the account? So what if he launders the money somehow or withdraws it through various POS? What if he even uses the money to buy crypto from services like MoonPay? It doesn't make sense. How will they punish the people who receive money from the bank when they know that it can be anybody? So they mean that if he buys things from a shop or business worth two million and he makes a transfer, they will punish the business owner? It's a very silly system.

Them say e fit go challenge for court or refund the money.. so if him return the money, wetin him go gain in return,

That court own na long talk. If e wan carry that matter go court, he go spend pass or almost that 300k, so need no really day. Anyhow he wan do am, he dun lose that money be that. Mkae he just give permission for the bank to transfer the money back and make he make complaint for the exchange wey he do the trade.

[Out of mind]

Personally bank never freeze my money before say I receive bad money from p2p but I don hear different people stories about how bank they freeze their money from P2P. For me no be anybody I see for p2p zone I they trade funds with, I must check your numbers of successful orders and if e no dey above 98% completed order I no go follow you trade. I no dey receive money from p2 p for any of my bank account but other fintech company like OPay or PalmPay I feel they are easier and do lot freeze suspicious transactions like how banks act so fast. I believe Na why I never get this kind experience from trading on p2p before.

Many times, bank accounts are frozen due to fake money during P2P transactions, here many ordinary people suffer punishment for doing this transaction. Of course, you deal with experience, due to which you will still face such punishment, I also do not like dealing with everyone. Since you deal with P2P traders whose ratings are very good and they have traded a lot, the possibility of such fake money is less if you deal with 98% rating accounts. Many times, when using a bank account on P2P, you have to face such problems, but I have not faced this type of fraud so far, basically I use these companies like you, it is easy. However, I have also dealt with bank accounts through P2P but my account has been fine so far. That is why every person should not make transactions only by looking at the high price, many times fraudsters commit fraud, due to which ordinary people are seized. Therefore, in transactions, experience should always be done with it, of course, ordinary people often face punishment due to such fraudsters.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Some precautions to take when doing p2p in any centralized exchange are; never allow the person you are selling your coins to to pay you from a different account that does not bear the same name as the name you see on that exchange, don't open trade with someone that doesn't have too many trade counts (personally, I trade with someone that have done more than 20k trades), lastly, make it a priority to only trade with verified users. Last time I had some scam attempt experience while doing p2p, I observed that it was those new accounts that have not done many trades that usually do this, while those verified users has a low chance of doing this because they know that if the victim reports them to the exchange, their account will be locked with their funds in it.

[Frankolala]

Not the victim... The total amount of fraudulent money is the 4 billion... So the 300k is from the 4billion which has already been scattered across 21 different accounts. The person complaining has no knowledge of the 4 billion You get now??

This sucks and it's clear that our government don't know what they're doing. You didn't catch the real thief but come to catch an innocent person. This is how our country government have been operating for long in an unprofessional way. The buyer that bought the coins and paid your friend 300k, why wasn't he the real person they should have arrested and freeze his bank account earlier before your friend traded with him and why hasn't he been arrested since we are talking about 4 billion here. Or don't p2p traders do KYC?. Fucked up country where the innocent suffers for the sin of the crime that he knows nothing about.

[Perfectbaby]

Make I just say at that time them been no dey aware say that kind money done moved from their system.
See ehh anything dey possible for we country na why we no supposed dey lose guard so easily since e be say whenever stolen money enter into people account, they may not know were the money from but any person wey received the money from them go also face law.
Tru true say na why we supposed dey use all this fentech bank them, their eyes no too dey there but if you keep dey use commercial bank then the right to keep dey limits your account dey possible.

[Su-asa]

Some precautions to take when doing p2p in any centralized exchange are; never allow the person you are selling your coins to to pay you from a different account that does not bear the same name as the name you see on that exchange,

This is also a good idea.

Another thing is to always keep a record of the conversation with the p2p buyer as evidence, so that, just in case any incident occurs, you will have proof.

Not the victim... The total amount of fraudulent money is the 4 billion... So the 300k is from the 4billion which has already been scattered across 21 different accounts. The person complaining has no knowledge of the 4 billion You get now??

This sucks and it's clear that our government don't know what they're doing. You didn't catch the real thief but come to catch an innocent person.

It's not like they are accusing anyone; just the money is being frozen because the receiver is a suspect, after ingestions they noticed that the receiver is clean his funds will probably be free for the receiver to use.

Just that, in Nigeria, things don't work the way they are supposed to; in other developed countries, things work much better than how things work here.

[Justbillywitt]

The only one I have been a victim of in the past, is that my account is Crypto related. My money is still trapped in that bank till date. It wasn’t because a p2p vendor sent me fraudulent money. This is a really something new, and it’s a big issue you have raised like this. Most of us that are frequent in p2p activities are not safe. Maybe we should write a disclaimer in our p2p platform profile. A disclaimer that nobody should pay us with fraudulent money, that we won’t be held liable for anything, if someone pay us with fraudulent money Maybe those who might have such intention of paying us with such money, will stay away from us.

[Agathamay]

I don see matter wey person no fit withdraw him money from the bank because the person been involve in some kind of p2p transaction wey involve scam and that na bank steady talk and even you wey Dey involved for the transaction go fear to near bank because you already know say you Dey involved with crypto and you no go like implicate yourself.

My question na, wetin government Dey do with all these recovered goods and properties.

[EarnOnVictor]

I don't take all these social media handles seriously anymore, as most of them are only looking for contents and engagements. Still, there is sense in what you said, as an innocent person could be caught in the crossfire.

However, if this is the case, I think Opay or whatever the merchant is should know better in this situation; further disbursement should be prevented rather than cheating a person who wants to do a legitimate P2P transaction. Wait a minute, the money frozen, where is it going? They are all thieves jare.

That aside. What if Opay and the likes of them are lying and using it to steal peoples' funds in form of a blackmail? This is very possible in Nigeria.

[Azulon]

This has happened to people around me. A friend of mine is a block merchant on Bybit, and they have a private WhatsApp group where merchants warn each other about glitches and vendors who might be spreading fraud money.
What worries me is that you can do everything right and still lose. Even if you can eventually get your money back through the courts, how many people have the time and resources to fight that? Most people just lose it.
I also can't ignore that almost every major bank here (First Bank, Access, OPay, PalmPay, Zenith, Wema, Keystone) had some kind of glitch between 2024 and 2025. I'm not saying the banks planned it, but it makes me wonder how much is being done to stop this kind of money from moving around.
For now, the best protection I've found is trading only with a few vendors I know on Bybit. If they're not active, I call them to come online instead of using a random vendor.

[Yorubasrm]

For now, the best protection I've found is trading only with a few vendors I know on Bybit. If they're not active, I call them to come online instead of using a random vendor.

This is a good medium. If you build a good relationship with them, your transactions will be very smooth and nice. Using familiar vendors instead of unknown vendors is the best way for transactions. You are moving forward in a very good way because when they are not online, you can call them, bring them online and complete the transaction.

[Azulon]

[/quote]
This is a good medium. If you build a good relationship with them, your transactions will be very smooth and nice. Using familiar vendors instead of unknown vendors is the best way for transactions. You are moving forward in a very good way because when they are not online, you can call them, bring them online and complete the transaction.
[/quote]

Exactly. Another thing that helps is starting small with any new vendor and only increasing the amount once you've built trust with them.

[Localhostspeed]

Personally bank never freeze my money before say I receive bad money from p2p but I don hear different people stories about how bank they freeze their money from P2P. For me no be anybody I see for p2p zone I they trade funds with, I must check your numbers of successful orders and if e no dey above 98% completed order I no go follow you trade. I no dey receive money from p2 p for any of my bank account but other fintech company like OPay or PalmPay I feel they are easier and do lot freeze suspicious transactions like how banks act so fast. I believe Na why I never get this kind experience from trading on p2p before.

If you have never experienced bank freeze before, it means an illegal money or tainted money has never enter your account. You know how frustrating banks are, you can have ₦100k on your account and once you receive money that is less than ₦1k and from a transaction that is reported to be either stolen, illegal or related to any criminal activity, your account will be frozen and put on hold until you explain the source of that money to your bank.

We don't have know ways to differentiate between clean money and money that may have involve in illegal deals. I preferred if fintech apps will be allowed on P2P where they will be the one to be sending money to us directly. I will prefer to pay them fees, have smoothness transaction over money that is my own and I will still put me into troubles.

[Inior]

Omor this matter serious oo, this na the first time I Dey come across with post like this. E nor really sharp say innocent people naim go come Dey experience something like this wey dem no even know about. My question na why the authorities no restrict the account wey the money Dey since, Wattin make dem allow am circulate like that when them go fit prevent all this yamayama sending dem. Na from things like this you go take know say our regulators Dey fail, because now that innocent guy go come need to go court spend money just to prove say em Dey innocent from Wattin e no get idea of.

[Sammye3]

Not the victim... The total amount of fraudulent money is the 4 billion... So the 300k is from the 4billion which has already been scattered across 21 different accounts. The person complaining has no knowledge of the 4 billion You get now??

Everyone is saying almost the same thing, and that explains how unprofessional the Nigerian government can be. In several occasions have innocent people being put to jail or even lost their lives without grounded evidence that explains the crime, but it's clear that someone has to take the fall.

I understand they would think he had a hand in this crime but there's always need for verification before taking actions. It would really hurt me that he would suffer for something he does not know anything about. The investigation team should focus more on tracing the fraud account and not trying to make someone the scapegoat.

[Felicity_Tide]

How Una think say this thing fit take resolve, because crypto don already get him own risk and now person go come still dey fear P2P vendor make him nor go receive fraudulent money... Because in the end na him go lose..

Quite a complicated story, but I think people can easily avoid situations like this by sticking to the rules that these same exchanges provide. I believe almost all exchanges allow you to report P2P transactions when the account name doesn't match that of the registered merchant, I.e the name of the person you're trading with. A lot of people often make mistakes by accepting money from people who uses third-party payment, and that's actually the biggest risk when making a P2P trade, imo. In a country like this where legal issues can get very complicated, the least you can do for yourself is to have enough proof, and also hope that the matter doesn't get overcomplicated.