Plaid bans FTX.US access to user data

Plaid has banned access to the users’ data to FTX.US.
The step is taken concerning the public reports of fraudulent activity.

Plaid, a financial services company based in San Francisco, has put a stay on the U.S.-based exchange’s access to its products, quoting “thinking about public reports” of scam activity.

Plaid is a platform that permits FTX.US clients to link their bank accounts to the mobile application of FTX. The platform also builds a data transfer network that powers fintech and digital finance products.

Plaid’s products give access to the users to permit FTX.US clients to link their bank accounts to the mobile application of FTX. After this, FTX.US can request payments which will be further processed by the ACH network.

On November 13, Plaid made a tweet through which the company announced that it had put a hold on the access of FTX to its products concerning the public reports of fraudulent activity. As per the tweet, it is very clear that FTX will now not be able to fetch any information on financial things through that platform.

Plaid suspended FTX’s access to Plaid products as of 11/11/22 at approximately 10:30PM PT. FTX can no longer retrieve any financial information via Plaid.
To provide as much clarity for end-users as possible, we’ve compiled the following FAQs. https://t.co/QbyNtXUH5r
— Plaid (@Plaid) November 13, 2022

Prior to this tweet, the company’s tweet declared that “at present, there is no such sign that the company has been used as a target for scams.”

Based on concerning public reports, Plaid suspended FTX production access to Plaid’s products. We don’t currently have any indication that Plaid has been used as a vector for fraudulent activity. Security is a top priority; we’ll continue to closely monitor the situation.
— Plaid (@Plaid) November 12, 2022

The users’ concerns

On November 12, many users raised their concerns through tweets in which they declared that FTX.US had tried to have access to their account through that very financial services company. Concerning this, reports say that someone has attempted to retrieve users’ data, but there is no such proof that the funds have been withdrawn.

A Twitter user and a co-founder of @gmdotxyz have alerted users and requested to change the bank account password and stop sharing the data quickly as the bank account of the user had been attempted to be accessed 40 min ago from that tweet.

PSA: If you have a bank account linked to FTX US, change your bank account password and stop sharing data immediately.
Below is a screenshot of my bank account, which they tried accessing 40 mins ago pic.twitter.com/sdnaUFEzOW
— Mike McGuiness ᵍᵐ (@mikemcg0) November 12, 2022

In a frequently asked question, Plaid also commented that some of this activity could be a consequence of automated financial information checks done by Plaid, which are often conducted on a regular basis.

The company has also clarified that after it put a ban on access, the exchange has not been able to fetch any details from Plaid accounts.

Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/11/14/plaid-bans-ftx-us-access-to-user-data/