According to documents seen by Techpoint Africa, ₦2,949,557,867 has been illegally transferred from the accounts of African fintech unicorn, Flutterwave.

On February 19, 2023, Flutterwave’s legal counsel, Albert Onimole, reported the case to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos.

Per Onimole’s letter, the hack on Flutterwave’s accounts occurred about two weeks ago from February 13. It was said that the money was initially transferred to 28 accounts in 63 transactions. While the incident was reported to the police on February 13, 2023, with the list of accounts that had received the money, the police could not freeze the funds.

According to Flutterwave, some commercial banks allowed the money to be moved to other accounts, widening the money trail.

To investigate accounts holding the stolen funds across various financial institutions in Nigeria, S.A. Adedesin, Legal Officer, State CID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, filed a suit in the Magistrate Court of Lagos (Yaba Magisterial District sitting at Yaba) to support Flutterwave’s claims.

The suit is between the Commissioner of Police and the following financial institutions.

Access Bank
Providus Bank
Union Bank
Keystone Bank
PalmPay
First City Monument Bank (FCMB)
Kuda Bank
Zenith Bank
First Bank of Nigeria
Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB)
United Bank for Africa (UBA)
Polaris Bank
Wema Bank
Union Bank
Sterling Bank
Ecobank
Paycom
Fidelity Bank
Eyowo
Stanbic IBTC Bank
Opay
VFD Microfinance Bank
Carbon
Moniepoint
Al-Hayat Microfinance Bank
PiggyVest
Nomba (previously Kudi)

Some accounts have already been frozen
While there are no documents to confirm if the court has ruled in favour of Inspector Micheal’s motion, some people have confirmed that their accounts have been frozen in connection to the hack.

A Twitter user said, “I got a mail from my bank saying I’m a 4th beneficiary to this acclaimed fraud money. This was after over five days after a successful trade. My account is locked 🔒 can’t access fund inside. Pls is this right? It’s unfair I have zero business with flutter wave or the hack.”

Per the motion filed by Adebesin, 107 accounts, including fifth beneficiaries of those accounts, are to be placed on lien/Post-No-Debit (PND).

With the stolen funds distributed across several accounts, which, according to tweets, may or may not have anything to do with the hack, it is not clear at this time who hacked Flutterwave.

Questions about how hackers got past Flutterwave’s security and what this means for the unicorn’s customers remain unanswered. We reached out to Flutterwave, and they’ve responded that they’re preparing an official statement on the issue.

https://techpoint.africa/2023/03/05/hackers-have-stolen-2-9-billion-from-flutterwave/

Massive heist

Interesting

Olè lé efribodi eni wón ba mu ni barawo

Na to dey bury money for ground the way dem dey bury treasure for olden days naim go sure pass now
.

Hack Éruh.!!!

Damn

This is woeful

It is happening already

ebexofficial:
It is happening already

This flutterwave thieve that stole my dollars? I told them back then they will regret it. Wicked things hating on their own for the sake of Oyibo man.

These criminals can hack innocent people's facebook accounts, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, email and other platforms but they won't hack into inec's portal when it matters most to them . Bunch of thoughtless and spineless criminals

Wow.
This is what happens wen an old Haag is rigged into office

They should find the inside man, this heist wouldn’t have been possible without an inside man!

ano wan hear say anything do my 2500 wey dey KUDA o
or else...

Interesting 🧐 the insider should be investigated and apprehended asap.

Crazy things…

Ww

How in the world did that happen, are there no layers or security checks for that huge amount.

thebosstrevor1:

Questions about how hackers got past Flutterwave’s security and what this means for the unicorn’s customers remain unanswered.

If there's no enemy within, the enemy without will have a hard time infiltrating the system.

👌