African fintech giant Flutterwave denies reports that it was hacked
One of Nigeria’s most prominent startups is denying media reports that hackers stole millions of dollars from its platform.
On Sunday, the website Techpoint.africa reported that about $6.3 million was stolen from the digital payments services startup Flutterwave. The fintech firm is typically used by small businesses to make and receive payments, and has raised nearly half a billion dollars in investor funding.
The outlet cited court filings from a purported Flutterwave lawyer requesting that more than 100 accounts at 27 financial institutions be frozen. In a filing from February 19, the lawyer writes: “About two weeks ago … there was a breach of Our Client’s internet security resulting to an account takeover by internet hackers.
“Before we could get the accounts frozen … some commercial banks allowed the monies to be moved to other beneficiary accounts thus widening the net of the culpable and fraudulent account holders.”
Flutterwave responded to reports of the breach on Sunday, denying that hackers had gained any access to the platform.
You may have recently heard some claims on Flutterwave's security. We want to assure you that Flutterwave has not been hacked, and no customer funds were lost.
— Flutterwave (@theflutterwave) March 5, 2023
Thank you for choosing us
Read more here: https://t.co/a27ZIy0w1k pic.twitter.com/o3KfChucJ9
“We want to reassure you that Flutterwave has not been hacked,” the statement said. “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.”
The company said that no funds were missing and that “security measures were able to address the issue before any harm could be done.” Flutterwave’s statement did not address the legal documents posted online, nor did the company elaborate on what sort of unusual activity they had detected.
They declined to respond to The Record’s requests for comment.
A handful of users of the platform responded to the statement with incredulity, saying on social media that their accounts at other financial institutions had been frozen at the request of Flutterwave.
Why are we (Kuda Users) affected by this? When we didn’t even transact with Flutterwave? @joinkuda @kudahelp_ng @theflutterwave Please do something cos I can’t access my account balance due to this and I have no idea why this is happening https://t.co/a5SqF4FmRX pic.twitter.com/ErC8fgfNgR
— Adewuyi Nasir Akanji (@AdewuyiAkanji) March 4, 2023
Flutterwave was founded in 2016 and has its headquarters in San Francisco, but has since expanded its footprint and has become one of the most prominent startups on the African continent. It has been prone to controversy, however, with allegations in April 2022 of a toxic work culture.
Earlier this year, a Kenyan court dismissed a case against Flutterwave of financial impropriety after freezing dozens of accounts with alleged links to money laundering.
James Reddick
has worked as a journalist around the world, including in Lebanon and in Cambodia, where he was Deputy Managing Editor of The Phnom Penh Post. He is also a radio and podcast producer for outlets like Snap Judgment.