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A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has denied a motion by Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) seeking to compel 12 banks and financial institutions to reverse billions of naira that were allegedly fraudulently withdrawn from a Flutterwave account at Wema Bank, <a href="https://nairametrics.com/2024/08/15/exclusive-nigerian-court-refuses-igps-request-to-reverse-billions-allegedly-withdrawn-from-flutterwave-in-2023-glitch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nairametrics</a> is reporting. The withdrawals reportedly occurred due to a system glitch between October 12 and 13, 2023. 
In the motion ex parte, dated July 17, 2024 and marked&nbsp;FHC/ABJ/CS/1015/24, the IGP’s lawyers argued that about 244 suspects criminally siphoned billions from Flutterwave’s account, transferring the funds to numerous bank accounts belonging to individuals who are either untraceable or difficult to locate. 
During proceedings on Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police’s counsel, Victor Okoye, in his prayer, urged Justice Peter Lifu to grant his motion ex parte, in accordance with relevant laws, and order the reversal of funds to Flutterwave. 
The judge, however, challenged the counsel to justify why the ex parte motion should be granted without hearing from the respondents, including the banks and suspects, in line with the constitutional provisions of fair hearing. 
“Should I order them [the banks] to reverse the funds without hearing their side of the story, based on your one-sided account? If I grant the reversal, what is left of this case? You did not file a motion on notice. Once I reverse it, that is the end of the matter,” citing the necessity of a fair hearing, particularly from the banks involved,” Justice Lifu said. 
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 Kayode Egbetokun IGP
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To this end, the IGP’s counsel argued that the defendants were not traceable, but when they were ready they could approach the court at any time. But Justice Lifu countered the argument, noting that the banks at least should have been served with the legal processes so they could respond. This is because they are the entities responsible for reversing the funds. 
The judge also pointed out that there was no motion on notice accompanying the ex parte motion, as required by the court’s rules. 
“Who is to reverse it if not the banks? Serve them and let them come and tell me, ‘We surrender, we have no objection, and we are ready to comply with the court order,’” the judge said.&nbsp; 
Subsequently, the judge refused the ex parte motion, describing it as a clear breach of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees the right to a fair hearing. 
<h4 id="the-2023-flutterwave-glitch" class="wp-block-heading">The 2023 Flutterwave Glitch&nbsp;</h4> 
Reports made the round earlier in the year that Flutterwave had lost N11 billion due to a security breach. In response, the company released a statement confirming that the incident indeed occurred in April 2023 when it detected unusual activities on one of its platforms, used by a small number of customers for specific business transactions. The company also suggested that the heist was unsuccessful. 
The company said it immediately informed law enforcement agencies and provided the IP address and details of the offenders. In a statement sent to Nairametrics, the company said it successfully blocked an&nbsp;“attempted network intrusion and reported the offenders to security agencies.”&nbsp; 
Court documents, however, revealed that the company had sought police assistance to recover the stolen funds rather than bringing the offenders to book. Preliminary investigations by the police showed that fraudulent transactions were carried out using Flutterwave POS terminals on October 12 and 13, 2023. 
Following this revelation, Flutterwave requested Wema Bank to immediately freeze its settlement account, from which large sums were been moved to various individual bank accounts. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="400" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Untitled-design-2023-09-08T183624.789.png" alt="Flutterwave enters the Indian market with landmark partnership with IndusInd bank" class="wp-image-212973">
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 Flutterwave Founder/CEO
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Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) also revealed that 9,633 erroneous transactions were conducted on the Flutterwave POS platform on October 12 and 13, 2023, by 814 Flutterwave POS agents during the system glitch. 
According to NIBSS, Flutterwave’s total exposure at the time was estimated at N21.2 billion. However, Flutterwave worked with banks to restrict affected accounts, successfully preserving N7.2 billion. 
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) noted that his team eventually arrested some suspected POS agents involved in the fraudulent activities. 
Flutterwave is not the only company to suffer loss of funds due to fraudulent means. The Fraud and Forgeries report released by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) revealed that Nigerian banks lost a total of N2.09 billion to fraud in Q4 2023 alone. According to the report, mobile channels emerged as the primary method through which the largest amounts were stolen. 
In 2022, MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, lost a total of N10.5 billion to cybercriminals. 
See also: <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/06/24/flutterwave-lays-off-24-employees/#google_vignette">Flutterwave lays off 24 employees as it focuses on core business of payments and remittance</a>
The post <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/08/15/flutterwave-court-rejects-igps-request/">Flutterwave hack: Court rejects IGP’s request to reverse billions allegedly withdrawn</a> first appeared on <a href="https://technext24.com">Technext</a>.

Flutterwave hack: Court rejects IGP’s request to reverse billions allegedly withdrawn

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