Did Flutterwave lose N2.9 billion in a security breach? Company denies it

There are allegations that Flutterwave, the payments unicorn was hacked, losing up to N2.9 billion. This allegation was made by a Nigerian online blog, Techpoint Africa that in early February 2023, hackers transferred over ₦2.9 billion from Flutterwave accounts.

The report stated that Flutterwave has filed a motion to freeze accounts in 27 financial institutions in Nigeria, including Access Bank, Kuda, Zenith Bank, and OPay based on the transfers.

Techpoint maintains that it saw documents pointing to the fact that ₦2,949,557,867 was illegally transferred from the accounts of African fintech unicorn, Flutterwave. It also stated that 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 for further investigation.

There has been tweets confirming and denying the allegations on Twitter and Flutterwave has even published a statement denying the security breach, stating that “Flutterwave has not been hacked.”

It however stated that it noticed an unusual trend of transactions on some users’ profiles and promptly “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 added that no customer lost any funds.

According to Flutterwave, in its statement,

At Flutterwave, we understand that our customers’ personal and financial information is of the utmost importance. We take this responsibility seriously and understand that any potential security breach can cause anxiety and concern among our customers.

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.

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.

Our commitment to keeping our users’ financial information safe and secure is why we invest heavily in security initiatives such as periodic audits, certifications, and licenses such as the PCI-DSS & ISO 27001. These are in line with global best practices in information security management.

We want you to continue to trust us and feel secure in using Flutterwave for your business needs. Our commitment is to enable your business growth while keeping your financial information safe and secure.

The Flutterwave team

…..This is a developing story