Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Hindenburg Research has published an investigative report claiming that Nigerian financial technology company, Tingo Group has committed multiple scams across its verticals and has also fabricated its financials.
Hindenburg Research, a short seller based in Manhattan, published a detailed investigation into the fintech and agri-fintech group owned by Mr Dozy Mmobuosi, claiming that that company is a scam with “fabricated” financials.
According to the fintech’s website, Tingo has operations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East and subsidiaries such as TingoMobile, TingoPay, and a food division.
Tingo, based in New Jersey, is listed on the Nasdaq under TIO and carries out due diligence.
The short seller asserted that Tingo Group’s CEO, Mr Mmobuosi, has fabricated his bio, the company’s financials, and the launch of an airline division, among other accusations.
Hindenburg isn’t the first to sound alarm bells as Tingo’s no ex co-chairman filed a public letter to its founder saying he could not approve the company’s annual report due to critical questions that were left unanswered and had decided to resign from the board.
Other problems include faked businesses; among these are the proven false Tingo Airlines, as well as Tingo Group claiming to be a food processing company but not owning a single plant. Additionally, in April 2023, Tingo Group’s co-Chairman recused himself in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by resigning from the company.
Also, the report noted that, “Dozy is regularly described by the media as a billionaire and made waves earlier this year when he attempted to acquire the now-Premier League soccer team Sheffield United.
“We’ve identified major red flags with Dozy’s background. For starters, he appears to have fabricated his biographical claim to have developed the first mobile payment app in Nigeria. We contacted the app’s actual creator, who called Dozy’s claims “a pure lie”.”
Business Post had also reported that Stanbic IBTC denied concluding a deal with Tingo International Holdings on the use of its (Stanbic IBTC) payment gateway for the latter’s new product back in 2021.
Tingo had previously claimed that it had entered into a partnership with Stanbic IBTC to power its new payments system, Tingo Pay.
But the lender said this was incorrect. Though it admitted that discussions were underway to make this a reality, noting that it was still at the negotiation stage.
The firm’s shares, as a result of the development, are experiencing heavy trading today, with over 30 million units moving as of this writing.
This is above its daily average trading volume of about 4.5 million shares. The company’s stock is also down more than 57 per cent in the US.
