Kled app removed from Nigeria over rampant fraud

A United States-based data marketplace, Kled AI, has pulled its app out of Nigeria after uncovering what it described as widespread and organised fraud among users, raising fresh concerns about the country’s reputation in the global digital economy.

The platform, founded in 2025 by Avi Patel, operates as a “human data marketplace”, paying users to upload photos, videos and other digital content used to train artificial intelligence systems.

The company said its Nigerian operations became overwhelmed by abuse within months of launch.

Patel disclosed that the firm has now removed the app from Nigerian app stores and imposed a full IP ban on the country after internal reviews showed that about 95 per cent of activity from Nigeria was fraudulent.

“We have removed Kled from the Nigerian app store and IP banned the entire region,” he said.

According to him, instead of submitting genuine data, many users uploaded black screens, duplicate files, internet-sourced images and AI-generated content at scale, making the platform unusable for its intended purpose.

He added that the abuse extended to identity verification, with users allegedly submitting fake documents, including mass-produced Japanese passports altered with Nigerian faces during the Know Your Customer process.

The company said it had paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to users globally within four months, but the scale of fraudulent submissions from Nigeria made continued operations unsustainable.

Patel compared Nigeria’s figures with other markets, noting that countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines recorded fraud rates of less than 10 per cent despite having significantly larger user bases.

He, however, indicated that the suspension may not be permanent, hinting that the company could return if it develops stronger fraud detection systems capable of handling abuse at scale.

The development has triggered mixed reactions online, with some Nigerians admitting that abuse of digital earning platforms is common, while others questioned the credibility of the claim, describing it as exaggerated or a publicity move.

Still, the decision by Kled underscores a deeper problem the growing trust deficit facing Nigerian users in global tech ecosystems, especially in emerging sectors tied to artificial intelligence and digital labour.