₦airaland Forum

Access Bank has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos to recover ₦1.34 billion allegedly transferred from the accounts of four customers through an unauthorised transaction on its Access SME internet banking platform.

The incident, according to court documents, was discovered on August 12, 2026, after the bank noticed suspicious transactions involving MIB TXN Bullion, Aba Branch; AIICO General Insurance Company Limited; Apogee Engineering Limited; and SIMS Nigeria Limited.

A total of ₦1,340,425,393 was reportedly moved from the four accounts and subsequently transferred to several accounts held with Access Bank and 71 other banks.

The amounts allegedly taken from the affected accounts were ₦590,975,889 from MIB TXN Bullion, ₦420,449,504 from AIICO General Insurance Company Limited, ₦136 million from Apogee Engineering Limited and ₦193 million from SIMS Nigeria Limited.

In an ex-parte application marked FHC/LAG/MISC/1168/2026, Access Bank asked the court to preserve the funds and prevent further movement of the money pending the determination of its substantive application.

The bank listed 71 financial institutions as respondents and requested orders directing them to place post-no-debit restrictions on accounts and BVNs linked to the allegedly unauthorised transfers.

It also asked the court to compel the banks to disclose the amounts still available in the beneficiary accounts and to watchlist the BVNs associated with the accounts that received the funds.

Access Bank further sought an order directing the reversal of any recovered funds into its account, but the court declined to grant that particular request at the preliminary stage.

In its affidavit, the bank said its internal investigation showed that the funds had been transferred without the customers’ authorisation and distributed among several accounts.

The bank said it immediately contacted the affected financial institutions, notified them of the suspected fraud and requested that the funds be preserved while investigations continued.

Access Bank argued that urgent court intervention was necessary to prevent the suspected proceeds from being withdrawn, transferred or otherwise dissipated.

The bank also maintained that preserving the funds was necessary to protect its customers and prevent cybercrime capable of causing significant financial and economic damage.

Justice Akintayo Aluko, after considering the submissions of Access Bank’s counsel, Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya, granted three of the reliefs sought by the bank.

The judge held that the essence of the application was to preserve the funds from further dissipation and that the court had a duty to protect the subject matter of the case.

However, Justice Aluko declined to grant the fourth relief, which sought immediate reversal of the recovered funds, on the grounds that such an order would amount to a final determination of part of the case at that stage.

The court subsequently adjourned the matter until August 31, 2026, for further proceedings.

Justice Aluko also directed Access Bank’s counsel to file an undertaking as to damages in the event that the orders granted by the court are later found to have been uunwarranted

https://applesbite.com/access-bank-moves-to-recover-%e2%82%a61-34bn-lost-in-cyber-fraud/

Is that why they are deducting my money anyhow?
All they alert is about debit.
Am done with you guys for now

Even money in the bank is no longer safe

This is why cybersecurity is the future......

This is just the beginning. As more companies rely solely on cashless transactions and the internet to do business, there will be guys/ladies both within and outside the banking system that will be attempting on a daily basis to gain financial freedom via fraudulent means including hacking banking systems and phishing.

As AI and machine learning is thriving, so will cybersecurity.

No place is safe, maybe na to dey jolly with my money

Imagine!
A big organisation that we trust with our money? 😳😳😳
I hope my 1,200 wasn't tampered with? 😕😕

No be so they hack nairaland that year 😟

My account was deleted that year

thank God i don close my account with them. good for them too. na so access dey steal my money with them then. i buy recharge card, them carry 1k join without record for account statement. over 50 times e happen. complain to them, see statement of account, na old and new statement i see, without destinations of 1k missing

The work of sophisticated hackers with an insider.
God help us with our little pennies in those banks

Acess bank that uses diamond extra account finish my money that year, i ran already.

This is likely what happens when nepotism and corruption determines the product that you use

Fair judgement by the justice.

My N800 is safe.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Nigeria is supposed to be one of those channels under Natgeowild because

Hope our funds are is safe there o

I believe there is a compromise in terms of password among staff in that branch.

Nearly all transactions requires authorization as a second level.

The bank knows what happened. It is not external.

Access bank I have 3k in my account protect it with everything you got.

Those techno boys, aspire to perspire. I pray God will catch them. Access should keep my money.

Their Fintech brand name(Access) says it all.

sacajawea:
?? ??

Shout-out to all the ♟️ players on nairaland earning big bucks via the game.

Change compared to how much they make. They recover that sum in less than three months — plus profit.

ACCESS BANK

MAKE I NO TALK

There is alot of inside job to all these frauds

TallNigerian:
This is why cybersecurity is the future......

This is just the beginning. As more companies rely solely on cashless transactions and the internet to do business, there will be guys/ladies both within and outside the banking system that will be attempting on a daily basis to gain financial freedom via fraudulent means including hacking banking systems and phishing.

As AI and machine learning is thriving, so will cybersecurity.

This as in 100% of all hacks are internal jobs .

If they could hack why not instal a virus to wipe every data base and block access to Finnacle cloud servers.

If only these guys could access the bank accounts of the looters in power and distribute their ill-gotten wealth to the masses then and only then would they be doing the country a huge favour

The fraudsters would have moved the money or buy coins with it.

Hacker everywhere....no w8nder Zenith dey change app settings and appearance every seconds..... fear fear Zenith!

FSBoperator:
This as in 100% of all hacks are internal jobs .

If they could hack why not instal a virus to wipe every data base and block access to Finnacle cloud servers.

I agree with you boss. It actually is an Internal job.

TallNigerian:
This is why cybersecurity is the future......

This is just the beginning. As more companies rely solely on cashless transactions and the internet to do business, there will be guys/ladies both within and outside the banking system that will be attempting on a daily basis to gain financial freedom via fraudulent means including hacking banking systems and phishing.

As AI and machine learning is thriving, so will cybersecurity.

If not that banks have invested heavily in cyber security they would be taking hits daily cos every seconds of the day they are being attacked by criminals, even at that they still fall sometimes as hackers get tools too and explore every and any loophole

Insider. Pay una workers well,una go say no. Why won't they become thieves?

Make una dey recover o

Make nothing do my money o.

A classic inside job. The greatest threat to an organisation is an insider threat whether deliberate or not

Bad guys, so the hackers just randomly credited people's account just to make the investigation complex.

Why should this even make the news?

MIB transaction can only be executed within the system. It just requires just an Imputter and an authorizer...

And they report states that the funds were moved to accounts domiciled within the bank...