"Some are in trouble just for 20,000 or 30,000 Kyats," said Ko Chan, a money remittance agent in Salin.

It started around the middle of March where the Wave money transfer service agents started to see difficulties because the company started to withhold payment to its agents.

Wave money perhaps holds the biggest share of the market alongside OK Dollar, M Money and a slew of other services.

Wave Money will employ a representative (DDR) for each township, and agents and would-be-agents contact the company from the representative.

How the service works is simple; an agent of Wave Money service will transfer whatever amount the customer requires, with a service charge of about 1500 Kyats per 100,000 Kyats, to another service agent at another place to be cashed out.

The agents would then receive back their money from the DDRs.

"There are no other problems but it all began when we couldn't withdraw our money," Ko Chan.

For Wave Money agents,  the trouble started when the company did not make payments to them. However, they still required cash in hand to keep the money remittance business going.

"Wave is working together with Yoma (Bank). So when we couldn't withdraw from Wave , we could get it from Yoma. Now that even the banks are not allowing withdrawal, people have to withdraw their money from outside sources with high amounts of service charges. That market started from there," said Ko Chan.

The rates differ from township to township but the average is now at around between 10 to 12 percent.

"I had to pay 10,000 Kyats to withdraw 100,000 today. It is definitely not worth it but had to because I needed to cash out," said a person that cashed out from Wave Money on May 25.

Not soon after, Wave Money announced that while it understands as to why, it will nevertheless take action against agents that are taking advantage of the current situation to collect service charges way higher than it is set.

But its agents retorted that it wasn’t their fault. 

"Now if customers want to withdraw money, I give them the number they said to call to report on agents. The whole thing started because they are not taking responsibility and we agents are getting caught in the middle," said a Wave agent in Yangon.

"If Wave took responsibility and cashed out the amount of money in the ledgers then none of this would have happened. We can still understand if Wave could not take charge due to the current turmoil but there is no accountability at all to say you will punish this and that without having done nothing yourself to improve the situation," said another agent on Wave Money's social media page.

Some agents, such as Ko Chan, have taken to helping out their customers without any charges at all.

"If you count transportation charges, if the service is charging in the thousands then it is terrible for them. So I will help cash out the first 1 million Kyats without any charges with a limit of 50,000 per person. Sometimes I do 1.5 million per day," said Ko Chan.

For his store and for many others, the main customers utilizing Wave Money are from lower income families.

"The limit of 50,000 per person isn't too much but at the same time, it is for those that are in a financial bind. There are many that send money for medical treatment from Yangon. If they have to cash it out at a high price, they are going to suffer. So it is convenient for them and also for me because I want to help them out," said Ko Chan.

He helps by not collecting charges for Wave Money as well as other services such as Kpay. 

"If it is urgent, even if the limit has been reached, I will try to help out. Of course, I'd have to keep extra cash around," said Ko Chan.

After the recent political changes, more and more people are relying on money transfer services such as Wave Money as banks struggle with giving out cash for customers looking to withdraw their savings. But for most Wave Money agents, they believe that it will be awhile more before it returns back to normalcy.

"The main problem is that we cannot withdraw our money. If that is fixed, it will return to normal eventually but for now, we don't know how long it will take to get there," said Ko Chan.

For many customers of Wave Money and other money transfer services, the issue of paying higher amounts of service fees isn't the problem.

"You know, it's easy to do. You show the agent the message and say the password and you get the money. So many people use it for its convenience. Even if agents are charging substantially marked up charges, people have to actively look for agents that would actually provide the service. After they found it, the service charges were arbitrarily higher. For those that can spare, it is not a problem but for the needy, those service charges could mean rice or cooking oil that could feed their family," said a customer.

As all parts of the Wave Money operation chain struggle to operate, both customers and agents of the service are sure of one thing; no one knows when this will stop.