Court instructs banks to unfreeze accounts linked to a ₦2.9 billion Flutterwave hack that took place last year

A Lagos court has directed 27 banks to unfreeze accounts related to a ₦2.9 billion hack on Flutterwave in February 2023. Flutterwave had been granted a motion to freeze the accounts in question on February 27, 2023. Despite the court’s ruling, Access Bank and Providus Bank have not yet unfrozen the accounts.

Documents viewed by Techpoint Africa revealed the lifting of the lien on the accounts was ordered by The Magistrate Court of Lagos. As reported previously, hackers had transferred ₦2,949,557,867 from Flutterwave in 2023, which led the company’s legal counsel to the Deputy Commissioner of Police and a motion to freeze 107 accounts.

Now, the same court that ordered the freezing of the accounts has directed for some of them to be unfrozen.

Despite a Lagos court’s order to unfreeze some accounts linked to a hack of Flutterwave, two banks, Access Bank and Providus Bank, have reportedly failed to heed the order. Flutterwave is expected to respond with a statement regarding the issue soon.

In related news, a High Court has authorized Flutterwave to reclaim ₦19 billion ($24 million) lost through unauthorized transactions by point of sale (PoS) merchants using its online platform. Flutterwave discovered on October 10, 2023, that several PoS device merchants exploited a technical glitch to perform illegal transfers on its platform. This recovery process will involve 6,000 account holders across 35 banks.

Last year’s hack involved several banks that were faulted by Flutterwave’s legal counsel for allowing the transferred funds to be further disbursed, thus complicating the money trail. The recent court order illustrates that Flutterwave is still engaged in efforts to recover funds that were illicitly transferred a year ago.