Flutterwave denies reports of ₦2.9 billion hack

Flutterwave has denied reports that it was hacked, and over N2 billion funds from the company’s account were removed. The fintech giant admits that an unusual trend of transactions was observed, but no user lost any funds, Businessday reports.

Earlier Sunday, Techpoint reported that hackers had breached Flutterwave, carting away about ₦2.9 billion from the company accounts. The reports also disclosed that the African unicorn was seeking to freeze the accounts of up to 300 customers of different banks.

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, the report read.

Per Onimole’s letter, the hack on the accounts occurred about two weeks ago, on 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.

However, some users have claimed their accounts were frozen concerning the alleged hack.

Read also: Flutterwave expands into North Africa with new Egypt payments licenses

Flutterwave’s statement of negation

However, the company on Sunday said it did not encounter any breach activity. It also has assured its customers that it continues working with other financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure its products are safe.

“We want to reassure you that Flutterwave has not been hacked. As a financial institution, we monitor transactions through our transaction monitoring systems and 24-hour fraud desk and review any suspicious activity.”

“We collaborate with other financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to keep our ecosystem safe and secure,” the company noted in a statement BusinessDay received.

The company said during a routine check of its transaction monitoring system; it identified an unusual trend of transactions on 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,” Flutterwave said.