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₦2.9 Billion Customer Funds: Customers report frozen accounts over illegal transfers from Flutterwave.. ( + Documents)

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1 year ago

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On Sunday, payments fintech Flutterwave denied a report that hackers stole ₦2.9 billion of customer funds. In its response to the story, Flutterwave said it noticed unusual activities in its systems and told users to activate safety protocols. But it insisted that customers did not lose any funds.

However, several sources revealed a different story. One of those sources told this publication that his company lost ₦8 million. Three other sources said their accounts were frozen for being beneficiaries of illegal transfers from Flutterwave accounts.

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On March 3, 2023, Alex Onyia tweeted about a hack at Flutterwave. Part of his tweet said, “Flutterwave has been hacked by Omar Edewor Trades, who has an account in Access Bank, and several millions of naira have been stolen from people’s [Flutterwave] accounts.” He advised everyone to get a new API key—one of the safety precautions that Flutterwave asked its users to take two days later.

Onyia is the CEO of Educare, a school management software provider that integrates Flutterwave and Paystack payment technologies into their software for educational institutions and other businesses. On a call with TechCabal, Onyia maintained that money was fraudulently transferred out of the Flutterwave accounts of his clients
through API calls.

He said, “On Thursday, March 2, 2023, I got a message from my account manager at Flutterwave asking if we authorised some transactions. I looked into the matter and was already blaming my dev team. I thought they introduced something new or a backdoor that was triggering the debit. After further investigation, I discovered that
there was no problem with my company and that there was a compromise in Flutterwave’s system.”

Onyia claimed that the hacker moved ₦4,990,000 out of the client’s Flutterwave account first and ₦3,360,000 moments later. “They even initiated a third debit for
₦3,360,000, but the balance wasn’t up to that, so it didn’t materialise,” he said.

Following the money trail
Onyia said that he called Access Bank, where the money had been transferred into an account named Omar Edewor Trades. “We called the bank, but we were told that the
money had been moved to another bank. After sharing the necessary documents, including information about the illegal transaction on Flutterwave, I asked Access Bank to
freeze the account.” According to Onyia, while the bank was investigating, it noticed that a lot of money was flowing into that account and immediately froze the
account.

“We asked the bank to send us back our money since there was money in the account and proof that about ₦8 million moved from our account to the fraudster’s. The bank
refused, saying that they had no right to, as based on the transaction trail, our money has been moved to a different account.” TechCabal could not verify that the
Access Bank account was frozen at the time of this report.

Onyia said that on March 3, Flutterwave asked customers to activate IP whitelisting, a security measure that was previously optional and asked everyone to change their
API keys. “If you know your system was not compromised, why are they asking everyone to take all these measures?”

Flutterwave’s response
Flutterwave answers this question in its official statement, saying, “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 (in line with our standard operating procedure), which revealed that some users who had
not activated some of our recommended security settings might have been susceptible.” However, the fintech flatly denied that any user lost any funds, as its security
measures were “able to address the issue before any harm could be done to our users”.

But court documents seen by TechCabal raise questions about Flutterwave’s version of events. Those documents include certified true copies of a petition by
Fluttewave’s legal counsel to the police dated February 20, 2023. The letter asked for police assistance to recover funds by obtaining court orders from the magistrate
court to sustain account freezes on 107 bank accounts in 27 banks that allegedly, directly or indirectly, received money from the illegal transfers from Flutterwave accounts.

Some of the frozen accounts
Ajeka Iliasu Opaluwa, owner of Pajek Signature, a cryptocurrency trading business, is listed in court documents as a first beneficiary of the illegal transfer from
Flutterwave accounts. A first beneficiary is an account that received a transfer directly from a Flutterwave account. On a call with TechCabal, Opaluwa said, “I sold
USDT worth ₦1.6 billion to William Atong Chen, a Chinese merchant who has been a customer since 2019. When we first transacted five years ago, my partner met him in
Lagos to complete KYC (know your customer). The transactions started on February 5, 2023, and I got paid, just like all the others I have had with him. It was on
February 7, 2023, after the trade had been concluded, that the bank froze my account.”

Opaluwa told Chen that the bank had frozen his account. “I asked him to come to the bank and help me resolve the issue, but he said he was no longer in Nigeria. His
Nigerian numbers are still reachable, and when I call him to recount my plight, he insists that he made the transaction in good faith and that it was not stolen money
he sent to me,” Opaluwa said on the call.

Opaluwa insists that the Chinese customer’s name is William Atong Chen, however, the only Chinese name found on Flutterwave’s court document listing bank accounts to
be frozen is Quiang Chen. Opaluwa shared evidence of the transaction with TechCabal. “I made the transaction lawfully. I sourced USDT, and when I saw evidence that I
had been paid, I handed them over. Three days later, somebody comes to tell me that the money I was paid was stolen. Was I supposed to take it to a digital money
detector? How could I have known the money was stolen?” he asked on the call. He told TechCabal that he has filed a petition against Flutterwave as he is also a
victim.

The accounts of other crypto traders who received payments for crypto assets from Opaluwa were also frozen. David Ofedu Audu, whose five bank accounts are listed on
Fluterwave’s petition for account freezing, is one of them. Audu told TechCabal that his transactions with Opaluwa started on February 5 and ended on February 7. The
day after, February 8, his five accounts were frozen.

He also shared an email from StanbicIBTC Bank confirming that his accounts were frozen because of the illegal transfers from Flutterwave accounts. His account manager
at Providus Bank, where his accounts were also frozen, cited the same reason for the freeze, on a call.

“I am a second beneficiary because the person who paid me received the money directly from Flutterwave. Opaluwa bought USDT from me for a Chinese customer called
Chen,” Audu said on the call. In the court documents, Chen’s account is listed as one of the accounts frozen for receiving funds from the impacted Flutterwave
accounts.

TechCabal also spoke to sources whose accounts were blocked but who claimed they had no dealings whatsoever with Flutterwave. Henry Awaka, one such person, told
TechCabal that his Fidelity Bank account was frozen around the same period. He told TechCabal, “I sent several emails to Fidelity Bank but got no response.”

He remained in the dark until his friend, who was a second beneficiary, saw his name in the court documents and told him about it. According to the document, Awaka’s
Fidelity bank account is a fourth beneficiary and received ₦1,199,291 from an account named Nnam Monday Kingsley at Providus Bank. Awaka said that he traced the
transaction and discovered that it was from a bulk sale of alcoholic drinks—350 crates of Trophy and 27 crates of Budweiser alcoholic drinks.

Awaka is a sales manager at an international brewery and he claimed he makes these sorts of transactions regularly. He didn’t suspect that he had become a beneficiary
of some of the N2.9 billion illegally transferred from Flutterwave accounts. He has since emailed his bank several times with the receipt of his transaction but has
received no response. “Fidelity Bank is so complacent about the matter,” he said. According to him, there are about 180 people in a Whatsapp group whose accounts have
been frozen after making one legitimate transaction with someone who received money that came from the Flutterwave account.

 

Source: The Tech Cabal

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Degree mills: FG to flush out fake certificate holders

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10 hours ago

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May 3, 2024

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The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has pledged to flush out persons in public and private organisations working with fake certificates.

Mamman made this known while speaking in Abuja on Friday when he received the report of an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling from the Chairman of the committee , Prof. Jubrila Amin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the minister of education on Jan. 9, inaugurated an Inter-Ministerial Committee to examine the veracity of allegations of degrees racketeering within both foreign and local private universities.

The committee was mandated to review the role of any MDAs or its officials in facilitation of the recognition and procurement of fake certificates in question.

Mamman, who expressed sadness over what has been uncovered during the investigations, said that the ministry would work with relevant agencies to sanitise the education sector and rid it of any fake tendencies.

“We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education soar by some few persons.

“It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations who needs to be flushed out. This report is a product of a thorough investigation.

“It is sad that someone who should come out from a Nigerian institution with a 2:1 or 2:2 is now parading an international certificate of first class.

“The ministry is determined to take steps to sanitise the system,” he said.

He pledged to take decisive role to ensure standards were enshrined in the system saying that ‘we can’t afford to let down our country when it comes to standards’.

Presenting the report, Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee, Amin, decried the horrible standards of education in those schools saying that many of those schools awarding degree certificates were an eye saw.

Amin said the problems at hand required speedy intervention, recommending that all agencies in the sector must digitise/automate their system.

He said that automating the entire education system was a way to go in such a way that you could sit in your office and monitor what is happening in all tertiary institutions.

According to him, in the course of our investigation, we realise that the present programme of accreditation and evaluation of results is inadequate.

He called for more universities in the country, saying that more universities to train PhD holders would help a lot rather than Nigerians going outside in search of certificates while ending up getting fake certificates.

He, therefore, urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to pay more attention to institutions offering part time or sandwich programmes so we don’t have a repeat of 2017 saga of centres offering unaccredited courses.

“People go and get fake degrees and we have been to those countries and we know what a proper degree looks like, we know what the fake one looks like.

“We have given it to the ministry to scrutinise anyone presenting a certificate from those institutions and anything else is fake.

” It is up to the ministry to find out people with fake certificates and deal with them in whatever way they derm fit,” he said

 

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Just In: EFCC submits additional proof of evidence against Emefiele

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11 hours ago

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May 3, 2024

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has submitted additional proof of evidence against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

During the court hearing on Friday, Emefiele’s counsel, Olalekan Ojo requested an adjournment to review the new evidence before continuing the cross-examination of John Ikechukwu Ayoh, the second prosecution witness.

Ojo accused the EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, of engaging in “trial by ambush” and not being diligent in their prosecution.

He told the court that he just received the additional proof of evidence from the EFCC.

He said the new proof of evidence was filed on Thursday, saying he needed to study the additional proof of evidence to cross-examine the prosecution witness.

He told the court, “My lord, there is a need to adjourn this case. We were just served these huge documents by the EFCC in court.

“The prosecution keeps dumping documents on us at every sitting. This is trial by ambush.”

Sharing the same sentiment, the counsel to the second defendant, Adeyinka Kotoye, also said he was served the additional proof of evidence five minutes after arriving in court.

In his defence, Oyedepo argued that they provided documents from a former aide to Emefiele in preparation for his testimony, saying it did not affect the ongoing cross-examination.

He added that it was unfair to describe the service of processes by the prosecution as “ambush by trial”.

Oyedepo emphasised that the additional evidence submitted were documents obtained from the phone of a former aide to Emefiele, John Adetona, who is set to testify as a witness.

He also clarified that these documents were provided in advance for Adetona’s future testimony and that he was not scheduled to appear in court on the present or upcoming hearing on May 9.

“The witness (Adetona) whose device the documents were printed from has not given evidence before the court,” Oyedepo said.

“In preparation for his testimony which is not coming up today or May 9, the prosecution rather waiting for the defence to formally demand the hard copies the prosecution team printed the documents out.

“How does that amount to prosecutorial unfairness?”

Oyedepo, however, requested that the court instruct the defence counsels to conclude their cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.

He clarified that the introduction of new documents does not hinder or impact the ongoing cross-examination of this witness.

However, Emefiele’s lawyer disagreed, stating that he needed time to review the new documents as they may contain valuable information for use during cross-examination.

In his ruling, the presiding judge, Rahman Oshodi, agreed with the defendant’s counsel.

Oshodi then adjourned the matter to May 9.

Emefiele and his co-defendant, Henry Omoile, are currently being tried in a Lagos high court on a 26-count charge.

Both the former CBN governor and Omoile pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.

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Bello Matawalle’s alleged N70bn fraud case still open – EFCC

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11 hours ago

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May 3, 2024

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has assured the public that it will continue with the alleged N70 billion corruption case against the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, during his tenure as the Governor of Zamfara State from 2019 to 2023.

The EFCC’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja on Friday, to demand the reopening of the pending case.

Uwajuren told the protesters that once the EFCC opened an investigation, it would not be closed, and assured them that their demand would be looked into.

“I want to commend members of the APC Akida Forum for this peaceful protest. It is within your rights to protest. The Constitution guarantees the right of free expression and you have done that today. I want to assure you all that the EFCC does not close cases. Once we open an investigation into a case, we do not close such a matter. So I assure you that this petition will be looked into. Thank you very much,” he said.

Presenting a copy of their petition to the EFCC, Chairman of the group, Musa Mahmud, asked the Commission to reopen the investigation into the corruption allegations against Matawalle.

He said the call came amidst growing concerns about corruption in Nigeria and the bold steps taken by the APC administration regarding government officials suspected of embezzlement, including former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, among others.

Mahmud further urged the EFCC to investigate the $2.1 billion arms deal, which included Matawalle among the dishonourable Nigerians and companies that benefited from the former National Security Adviser’s NSA scandal.

“The APC AKIDA Forum is appealing to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to continue investigating Matawalle’s alleged mismanagement of public funds during his tenure as Governor of Zamfara State and his involvement in the famous arms deal scandal.

“As party loyalists, we want the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to investigate the matter and bring justice to those responsible for the mismanagement of public funds. This will serve as a deterrent to others considering engaging in corrupt practices in public office, especially considering what happened to the humanitarian minister.

The APC Akida Forum, as a political pressure group, commends the Federal Government for making bold decisions against corruption,” he added.

On May 18, 2023, the EFCC announced that it was investigating allegations of extensive corruption, fraudulent contract awards, and the misappropriation of more than N70bn by Matawalle.

Meanwhile, members of the Zamfara Alternative Forum had staged a similar protest at the EFCC headquarters in January, asking the commission to revisit the probe of the former governor.

 

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