Court Orders 71 Lenders to Freeze Accounts Over ₦1.3B Access Bank Fraud

LAGOS — A High Court has ordered 71 commercial banks, microfinance institutions and financial technology firms to immediately freeze accounts connected to an alleged ₦1.3 billion fraud at Access Bank Plc.

The court issued the order following an ex-parte application filed by the bank after internal systems flagged unauthorized electronic transfers siphoned into dozens of third-party accounts across Nigeria’s financial network.

Judicial documents show the perpetrators routed the stolen funds through a complex web of microfinance banks, digital payment platforms and tier-one commercial lenders in an effort to obscure the transaction trail and move the money out of reach.

Under the terms of the court order, all 71 affected institutions must place an immediate Post-No-Debit restriction on the target accounts, blocking all withdrawals, transfers and debit transactions until law enforcement agencies complete their investigation.

Central Bank of Nigeria directives require financial institutions to enforce judicial freeze orders immediately upon receipt to prevent the further dissipation of stolen assets.

Security agencies and cyber-crime investigators have launched a joint operation to trace the final destination of the funds and identify the syndicates involved in breaching the bank’s security architecture.

Access Bank officials confirmed that forensic audits are underway to determine whether the security breach originated through external network exploitation, sophisticated phishing operations or insider collusion.

Financial sector experts noted that the involvement of 71 separate institutions highlights the increasing velocity and fragmentation of cyber-enabled bank fraud in West Africa’s largest economy.

Nigerian commercial lenders lost tens of billions of naira to electronic fraud schemes in recent years, prompting calls from regulators and security agencies for tighter inter-bank communication protocols and faster asset-recovery mechanisms.

Court proceedings are expected to resume next month as legal representatives for the affected institutions file compliance reports detailing the total balance of funds successfully trapped.