Flutterwave denies N2.9bn hacking claims

Flutterwave has denied reports that it was hacked and over N2 billion being funds from the company’s account removed.

According to a story by Techpoint.africa, hackers made away with ₦2,949,557,867, were illegally transferred from the accounts of the African fintech unicorn, Flutterwave. The alleged breach led to the company taking an order to free the accounts of several customers in many banks. Over 300 customers were alleged to have been affected.

However, the company on Sunday said it did not encounter any breach activity.

“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,” Flutterwave 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.
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“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.

The company said no user lost any funds. Nevertheless, some Nigerians on Twitter has complained that their banks froze their accounts based on an order received from Flutterwave.

“My Kuda account was locked after I received a cash transfer from a customer(Access Bank) strictly on biz purpose. It’s been over a week now and Kuda Bank has refused to unlock my account even after submitting all requested documents,” Dickson Solomon, a Twitter user said.

There is also a police statement purportedly sent on the behalf of Flutterwave by the company’s legal representatives posted on social media which clearly state that the company had suffered a breach by internet hackers.