Flutterwave freezing Opay accounts including Kuda Accounts, others in Zenith Bank, Access and 23 other banks over alleged ₦2.9Billion loss to hackers?
In early February, reports claim that hackers hacked into Flutterwave’s accounts and stole about ₦2.9Billion.
The hackers allegedly transferred the funds from the unicorn’s accounts into 27 bank accounts that included Opay, Kuda, First Bank and Access Bank’s.
Documents claimed in some quarters of the media say that the funds which hackers stole from the Unicorn amounts to ₦2,949,557,867.
Consequently, Flutterwave is seeking to freeze all beneficiary accounts in the 27 banks.
The Fraud Widens:
Also, the documents say the hackers made the transfer of the funds in 63 transactions on February 13, 2023.
According to it, some of the banks and fintech companies actually allowed the funds to be moved from the initial accounts into other ones.
This development widened the fraud, making it more difficult to be traced.
What Flutterwave is doing:
Reports say that Flutterwave, through its legal counsel, reported the hack and theft to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos.
The fintech company made the complaints on February 19, 2023, and through its legal counsel, Albert Onimole.
Police Take Up Action:
According to the reports, the police initiated processes towards investigation and possibly recovering the stolen funds.
To have a legal backing for its planned investigation, S.A. Adedesin, Legal Officer, State CID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, filed a suit in the Magistrate Court of Lago.
Read: Has CBN Shutdown Opay, Kuda, PalmPay, Other Digital Banks?
The suit is get the court’s authorization to investigate the accounts in the 27 banks.
A Twitter user with handle, @wealthyrichy10 and who claimed his account was wrongly frozen in alleged connection with the fraud said Flutterwave was denying the whole thing despite blocking his account.
The user wrote thus: “They blocked my account and started denying it here online….”
They blocked my account and started denying it here online @theflutterwave @CBNNews @ProvidusBank #flutterwavehacked #flutterwavehacked #flutterwavehacked #flutterwavehacked #flutterwavehacked #flutterwavehacked pic.twitter.com/CPt1F1qHdw
— NNAJIOFOR IKECHUKWU (@wealthyrichy10) March 5, 2023
According to documents shared by a Twitter user, it claimed that the unicorn swore an affidavit supporting its claim the the hack did occur with its accounts and that the theft of such fund actually took place.
“You are popular I will post evidence here, A hack confirmed by a flutterwave staff, my bank confirming flutterwave contacted them, flutterwave submitting a petition with a lawyer whose seal has expired since 2017. Their statement and Affidavit swearing this true, as oath.”
You are popular I will post evidence here, A hack confirmed by a flutterwave staff, my bank confirming flutterwave contacted them, flutterwave submitting a petition with a lawyer whose seal has expired since 2017. Their statement and Affidavit swearing this true, as oath. pic.twitter.com/zEHVMCgQOn
— Ufedo (@UfedoDavid) March 5, 2023
27 banks with accounts Flutterwave wants to freeze:
Meanwhile, the 27 banks with the accounts that received the stolen funds and which Flutterwave wants to freeze include:
1.Opay
2.Kuda Bank
3.PiggyVest
4.Zenith Bank
5.First Bank of Nigeria
6.PalmPay
7.Eyowo
8.VFD Microfinance Bank
9.Carbon
10.Moniepoint
11.Al-Hayat Microfinance Bank
12.Nomba (previously Kudi)
13.Access Bank
14.Providus Bank
15.Union Bank
16.Keystone Bank
17.First City Monument Bank (FCMB)
18.Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB)
19.United Bank for Africa (UBA)
20.Polaris Bank
21.Wema Bank
22.Union Bank
23.Sterling Bank
24.Ecobank
25.Paycom
26.Fidelity Bank
27.Stanbic IBTC Bank
Accounts Frozen:
Meanwhile, although Flutterwave has denied that its accounts were hacked, some customers have taken to Twitter to claim that their accounts had already been frozen by the fintech company.
A tweep with handle, @BiggyPrints, claimed Flutterwave had already frozen his account.
The tweep wrote thus:
“I got a mail from my bank saying I’m a 4th beneficiary to this acclaimed fraud money.
“This was after over 5 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.”
I got a mail from my bank saying I’m a 4th beneficiary to this acclaimed fraud money. This was after over 5 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.
— moonbiggy.sol (@BiggyPrints) March 4, 2023
Another tweep tweeted thus:
You are popular I will post evidence here, A hack confirmed by a flutterwave staff, my bank confirming flutterwave contacted them, flutterwave submitting a petition with a lawyer whose seal has expired since 2017. Their statement and Affidavit swearing this true, as oath. pic.twitter.com/zEHVMCgQOn
— Ufedo (@UfedoDavid) March 5, 2023
Flutterwave Denies Hack, theft and plan to freeze accounts:
Meanwhile, Flutterwave has denied there was any hack involving its accounts. The company has also denied plans to freeze accounts in banks.
A statement by the unicorn said it did not lose any funds to hackers because it was able to nip the problem in the bud.
““we identified an unusual trend of transactions on some users’ profiles.
“Our team immediately launched a review (inline with our standard operating procedure), which revealed that some users who had not activated some of our recommended security settings might have been susceptible.”
“We want to confirm that no user lost any funds, and we take pride in the fact that our security measures were able to address the issue before any harm could be done to our users.
Our commitment to keeping our users’ financial information safe and secure is why we invest heavily in security initiatives such as periodic audits, certifications, and licenses such as the PCI-DSS & ISO 27001. These are in line with global best practices in information security management.”
You may have recently heard some claims on Flutterwave’s security. We want to assure you that Flutterwave has not been hacked, and no customer funds were lost.
Thank you for choosing us 🦋
Read more here 🙏🏾: https://t.co/a27ZIy0w1k pic.twitter.com/o3KfChucJ9
— Flutterwave (@theflutterwave) March 5, 2023
Also, some of the said banks and fintech companies like Opay, Kuda, PiggyVest, ect with the accounts where the alleged stolen funds were transferred into have not equally commented on the matter.
Meanwhile, recall that a similar report had arisen last month claiming the the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) wanted to freeze accounts and shutdown Opay, Kuda, PalmPay and other digital banks.
However, Opay, Kuda and the mentioned banks denied the claims in separate reports they issued to the public.
Read: Has CBN Shutdown Opay, Kuda, PalmPay, Other Digital Banks?
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