Hackers Attack Flutterwave, Steal N2.949 Billion

Unnamed hackers have attacked the African financial technology company, Flutterwave, stealing ₦2,949,557,867 via illegal transfers to large numbers of beneficiaries. The men of the dark world explore gaps in the fintech’s platform to perpetrate this criminal activity earlier in the year.

Having discovered the development with its audit trail, the fintech Unicorn is seeking to freeze personal accounts in 27 Nigerian banks, and wallets, where the monies were transferred, Techpoint Africa reported.

The tech giant’s counsel, Albert Onimole, reported the case to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba. According to Onimole’s letter, the hack on Flutterwave’s accounts occurred about some weeks ago revealing that the said sum was initially transferred to 28 accounts in 63 transactions.

Although the accounts that received the money were listed, the police are yet to freeze the receiving accounts to prevent the money from being moved. However, Flutterwave said that some commercial banks allowed the money to be moved to other accounts, widening the money trail.

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

The suit is between the Commissioner of Police and the affected 28 commercial banks. 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.

Per the motion filed by Adebesin, 107 accounts, including the 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. As of press time, Flutterwave hasn’t responded to emails seeking clarifications.