Globus Bank Limited has suffered a significant setback as hackers exploited a system glitch, resulting in the withdrawal of N1.755 billion from customers’ accounts. The financial institution disclosed the fraudulent transfers, which occurred during a technical issue in its USSD channel, in an application filed before a high court in Lagos.
While the bank has managed to recover N817,998,969.85 from the fraudsters’ accounts, it faces challenges reclaiming N962,019,843.35 held in eight commercial banks across the country. To address this issue, Globus Bank has sought court intervention to recover the funds, which were unlawfully taken from 709 customers.
In the affidavit presented by the bank’s legal officer, Kosisochukwu Ngene, it was revealed that the unauthorized electronic transfers took place between Monday, June 6, and Saturday, June 11, 2022. Following the fraudulent withdrawals, the bank promptly obtained a court order from the Magistrate Court in the Yaba Magisterial District, instructing the affected banks to freeze and reverse the transferred amounts.
While some respondents complied with the order and returned a total of N817,998,969.85 to Globus Bank, the remaining N962,019,843.35 is still outstanding. Consequently, the bank urges the court to direct all eight banks to reverse and remit the outstanding sum, minus any depleted amounts, back to Globus Bank.
Additionally, Globus Bank requests an order compelling the eight commercial banks to provide all account information related to the destination accounts and the beneficiaries of the transferred funds.
Globus Bank Limited, led by Chairman Peter Amangbo (former GMD of Zenith Bank) and Chief Executive Elias Igbinakenzua (former executive director at Zenith Bank and Access Bank), is relatively new in the industry.
This incident raises concerns about the security of Nigeria’s banking system, which has faced scrutiny in the past. In 2018, a former medical doctor turned hacker, Michael Williams, exposed vulnerabilities in the country’s online banking system, highlighting the need for improved cybersecurity measures to protect financial institutions from such attacks.
