Flutterwave Losses N2.9 Billion to Hackers, Freeze Customers’ Bank Accounts

Despite Flutterwave’s insistence that its system was hacked, several bank customers have confirmed their accounts have been frozen in connection with the alleged N2.9 billion fraud on the fintech’s system.

Nairametrics gathered that the alleged stolen funds transferred across banks is being traced up to the 5th recipient, most of whom received payment for rendering legitimate services and had no knowledge of the said fraud.

As of the time of filing this report, some customers of Access Bank, GTBank, FCMB, Stanbic IBTC, Providus Bank, Union Bank, Sterling Bank, and Fidelity Bank, among others, have confirmed that their accounts have been frozen in connection to the fraud.

Bank customers who have been reacting to Flutterwave’s denial of the fraud expressed shock that messages from their respective banks confirmed that their accounts were being frozen on the orders of Flutterwave.

Customers query denial: Reacting to Flutterwave’s insistence that its system was not hacked and that no customer lost money, a bank customer whose 3 bank accounts have been frozen, Gbadamosi Muyideen, said:

“3 of my bank accounts with Access, Providus, and FCMB have been frozen in connection with the Flutterwave hack. My account officers from the three banks told me that flutterwave requests my accounts be frozen and that I received fraudulent money from Flutterwave hack proceeds. They went as far as freezing accounts up to the 5th beneficiary.

“How come they are denying the hack? I provided the service for the fund I received from my customers through Flutterwave. And the worst part is that all the people I paid through the 3 accounts have been on my neck because they can’t go about their daily business due to this.

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“Now I’m completely heartbroken, stranded, and feel like ending it once and for all because I can’t do business now and I can’t finance my daily needs.”

Also reacting to Flutterwave’s denial via a Twitter post, another bank customer, whose account has been frozen, Ufedo David, said his bank contacted him and that his account has been placed on hold, citing a petition from Fluttwerwave’s lawyer. A screenshot of an email from Stanbic IBTC to Ufedo, dated February 15, 2023, reads:

“Dear Mr Ufedo,

“Kindly note that we received a request from Flutterwave for an unauthorized debit to the tune of N7,098,468 on 6th February 2023. The Fraud Desk team placed a hold and sent a mail across to gain knowledge about the purpose of inflow. We have provided feedback received to Flutterwave and await a response.”

Directing his anger at his bank, an Access Bank customer, Adeyemi Adeniyi, whose account was also frozen in connection with the fraud, tweeted this:

“@accessbank_help, why have you refused to remove the lien on my bank account even after I have provided all the required documents you requested for? I have no business with @theflutterwave and their account being hacked. How does it affect me?”

What Flutterwave said: While the action on several accounts that had received money from Flutterwave in recent times suggested otherwise, the company had insisted that it was not hacked.

“During a routine check of our transaction monitoring system, 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.

“We want to reassure you that Flutterwave has not been hacked,” the company said in a statement it released on Sunday.