Last month, Flutterwave, Africa’s largest startup by private valuation, was implicated in a hack that resulted in the loss of over 2.9 billion naira (~$4.2 million) from its accounts, according to local technology publication Techpoint Africa.

According to documents seen by the publication and reviewed by TechCrunch, unknown actors transferred the funds to 28 accounts in 63 transactions in early February. Police investigations are ongoing as Flutterwave, through a lawyer and law enforcement, has filed a motion seeking to freeze the accounts of 27 financial institutions that interacted with the missing funds, reports TechpointAfrica.

Several tweets regarding the alleged hack were also posted over the weekend. Some provided information on the hack, while others complained on frozen accounts that may be linked to the hack. According to Techpoint Africa, the petition filed that 107 accounts, including the fifth beneficiaries of these accounts, are to be placed on Lien/Post-No-Debit (PND). This directive prohibits bank customers from withdrawing funds from their accounts.

The cause and method of the attack remain unclear. However, one of the postulates of online comment is that the hack could have been socially engineered, which means merchants’ keys were compromised, allowing the hackers to access money from their Flutterwave accounts.

Meanwhile, Flutterwave, via a statement about it, denied being hacked.

At Flutterwave, we understand that our customers’ personal and financial information is of utmost importance. We take this responsibility seriously and understand that any potential security breaches 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 our 24-hour anti-fraud office and investigate any suspicious activity. We work with other financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to keep our ecosystem secure.

During a routine check of our transaction monitoring system, we have identified an unusual pattern of transactions on certain user profiles. Our team immediately initiated a review (as part of our standard operating procedure), which revealed that some users who had not enabled some of our recommended security settings might have been susceptible.

We want to confirm that no user lost any funds, and we are proud that our security measures were able to resolve the issue before any harm could be done to our users.

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

We want you to continue to trust us and feel safe using Flutterwave for your business needs. Our commitment is to enable the growth of your business while ensuring the security of your financial information.

This is a developing story…