Hope PSB, One of Nigeria’s digital banks, with a first online approach, is taking legal action to recover ₦6.5 billion that vanished from its banking platform due to cyber-attacks.
Sources within the bank have reported that on July 15, 2024, its system was hacked into by unauthorized individuals who then transferred huge sums of money to multiple accounts. The funds were dispersed across various commercial and neobanks. An official from one of the affected banks said that some companies are trying to get back parts of the stolen money, but no specific figures were mentioned.
Hope PSB has chosen not to speak about it.
On July 18, however, Hope’s management reported the incident to police in Lagos but still remains silent concerning how it happened.
“On about July 15, 2024 there was unauthorised access to the Plaintiff’s banking platform following which huge sums of money were transferred fraudulently from the plaintiff’s banking platform to certain beneficiaries’ accounts,” states the motion.
The sources with the first-hand information have ascertained the fact that the fintech firm was indeed singled out for attack, making it opt to close down its banking infrastructure as a preventive measure. “It is better to be down than broke,” exclaimed an informant.
A representative of the company said this was the most significant attack on Hope PSB in five years, underscoring their strong risk and compliance regime.
“This is our first such incident in five years because we have a very strong system of risk and compliance. Customer deposits are intact and no risk was transferred” they declared.
As digital financial transactions increase in Nigeria, cybercriminals are focusing more on banks and fintechs. Nonetheless, these organizations remain under constant threat despite big security expenditures.
In Q1 2024 alone, data from NIBSS fraud industry report showed that 20,638 incidents resulted into loses totaling ₦3.007 billion by financial institutions due to fraud cases only.
