Stanbic IBTC Bank has lost N576,664,517 to cybercriminals following a breach of its internal security, prompting a sweeping investigation by the Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) in Lagos and a court-sanctioned freeze on hundreds of suspect accounts.
The bank alerted authorities after discovering that the funds had been funneled through multiple bank accounts linked to fraudulent activities involving both individuals and legitimate companies.
Following a money trail, the police traced the stolen funds to over 450 accounts spread across 37 financial institutions, including fintech firms and microfinance banks.
To prevent further withdrawals, the police approached the Federal High Court in Lagos with a motion ex-parte on February 11, 2025 (marked FHC/L/MISC/130/2025), seeking to freeze these accounts.
A snippet of the Court Order to Lien Respondents account
The court granted the order, empowering banks to place a post-no-debit on the accounts and authorizing the police to arrest anyone operating them over the next 90 days.
“That an order of this Honourable Court is hereby granted to the applicant directing the placing of Lien/Post No Debit, arrest upon sighting of anybody operating the under listed accounts domiciled with the Respondents for the period of 90 days that were used to perpetrate fraud against the victims in the case pending conclusion of police investigation,”
— read the first leg of the court order, signed by Justice Alexander Oluseyi Owoeye.
The police also requested access to account opening packages, bank verification numbers (BVNs), mandate cards, statements of account dating from January 1, 2023, and contact numbers linked to alerts, in line with Section 84 of the Evidence Act.
Additionally, the order mandates that:
“…the Respondents’ Banks… cause the arrest and handing over the account holders or their representatives to any law enforcement agency… and reverse/transfer the sum of N576,664,517.50 or whatever is left… to the victims’ account with account name: Special Reserved Account, account number: 9200026167, bank name: Stanbic IBTC.”
The court’s certified true copy was signed by Alokpesi C.N., with the case adjourned till May 28 for the report on police investigation.
When contacted for comment, Ovie Kenneth, spokesperson for the PSFU, said he would investigate and revert.
Innocent Crypto Trader’s Account Flagged in Fraud Probe
Ogundele Taofeek, a cryptocurrency trader, was among those caught in the crosshairs of the investigation.
His Kuda and OPay accounts were flagged after receiving N14.1 million from one Barnabas Nnabuike Ngwu, a customer of Zenith and Parallex Banks, in a legitimate crypto transaction on January 29.
“I received the payment in batches: N3,000,000, N3,000,000, N3,000,000, N500,000 to my Kuda Bank from his Zenith Bank account and N4,600,000 from his Parallex Bank to my OPay account. The payment was successfully credited to my bank account without any issues at the time of receipt,”
Comments are closed.