Data monetisation startup Kled has removed its application from the Nigerian app store and imposed an IP ban on users in the country, citing what it described as an overwhelming surge in fraudulent activity on its platform.
In a statement released by the company, Kled said the decision followed months of internal monitoring which revealed that “Nigeria had a ≈95% fraud rate,” with users allegedly uploading non-usable content such as “pictures of black screens, duplicate photos, internet generated images, AI generated images… at an unimaginable scale.”
The startup, which has been operating outside beta for about four months, noted that it had previously recorded significant growth, claiming it had “paid out hundreds of thousands of people for their data” while users uploaded over one billion assets globally. However, it said the scale and sophistication of fraudulent submissions from Nigeria had become unsustainable for its operations.
Highlighting the tipping point, the company disclosed that its verification systems were recently overwhelmed by identity fraud attempts. “This weekend we were flooded with thousands of fake Japanese passports and identity cards with Nigerians photoshopped onto them in our KYC system. That was the final straw,” the statement read.
Kled compared the situation in Nigeria with other markets, stating that countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines recorded fraud rates of less than 10 percent despite having significantly larger user bases. The company added that while its fraud detection systems are capable of identifying irregularities, “the level of complexity of these schemes is getting out of hand.”
Despite the crackdown, the company struck a conciliatory tone toward legitimate users in Nigeria, acknowledging early support from the region. “The first thing I would like to say is I have nothing against Nigeria… these were some of our earliest app adopters. Genuinely, thank you all for the support,” the company stated.
Kled explained that the removal is temporary and aimed at allowing time to strengthen its fraud detection and moderation systems. “As a startup we can’t afford to eat the costs of that data overhead, so we temporarily removed the app from the region while we improved our fraud detection and banning system,” it said.
