Zambian fintech startup Union54, which issues physical and virtual debit cards to customers without needing a bank or third-party processor, has spoken out about a recent experience of chargeback fraud that led to the startup halting its services for several weeks. Union54's CEO, Perseus Mlambo, revealed that the company detected fraud on its platform just days before it was reported in the media, with users trying to use cards for over $1.2bn of attempted fraud. Mlambo said the company tried to tackle the issue with one of its fintech clients, which was operating in a new region, but the attempted fraud continued. The company was forced to halt all transactions, even those unrelated to the fraud, leading to Union54 paying for half a million dollars of cancelled transactions from its operational funds.

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