Suspected hackers have reportedly stolen over N2,949,557,867 naira from African fintech unicorn, Flutterwave.
First breaking the news was Techcabal, which reported that the case had been reported to Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Intelligence Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, by the tech giant’s counsel, Albert Onimole.
A letter sent to the police by Onimole stated that the hack on Flutterwave accounts happened a few weeks ago and that the funds was initially transferred to 28 bank accounts in 63 transactions.
According to Flutterwave, some commercial banks allowed the monies to be transferred to other accounts, thereby expanding the money trail.
Further supporting Flutterwave’s claims, S.A. Adedesin, Legal Officer, State CID, Panti, Yaba, filed a suit in the Magistrate Court of Lagos to launch an investigation into the bank accounts holding the stolen monies across various financial institutions.
The filed suit is between the Commissioner of Police and the 28 commercial banks involved.
While there are currently no documents to confirm if the court had ruled in favour of Inspector Micheal’s motion, some persons have however confirmed the freezing of their accounts in connection to the hack.
Per the motion filed by Adedesin, 107 bank accounts, including fifth beneficiaries of those accounts, are to be placed on lien/Post-No-Debit (PND), pending the conclusion of the investigation.
The stolen funds, having being distributed across several bank 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.
Pressing questions about how hackers bypassed Flutterwave’s security and what this means for the unicorn’s customers remain unanswered. As of press time, Flutterwave hasn’t responded to any of the questions.
