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Access Bank Plc has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos for an order freezing bank accounts linked to beneficiaries of an alleged N1.34 billion cyber fraud carried out through its Access SME App.
In an ex parte application filed on August 13, 2026, and marked Suit No. FHC/LAG/CS/1168/2026, the bank asked the court to sustain restrictions already placed on accounts across 71 banks, microfinance banks, fintechs and payment service providers while investigations continue.
According to court documents, Access Bank said it discovered the incident after resuming operations on August 12, 2026, when it detected unauthorised transfers from four customers' accounts through its internet banking platform.
The bank said an internal investigation showed that N1,340,425,393 was transferred without the customers' authorisation and subsequently dispersed into several accounts maintained with Access Bank and other financial institutions.
The affected customers include MIB TXN Bullion-Aba Branch, which allegedly lost N590.98 million; AIICO General Insurance Company Limited, N420.45 million; Apogee Engineering Limited, N136 million; and Sims Nigeria Limited, N193 million.
Access Bank told the court that its investigation traced the allegedly diverted funds to multiple accounts and identified several Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) linked to the beneficiaries.
The bank is seeking an order directing all the respondent institutions to place Post-No-Debit (PND) restrictions on the identified accounts and BVNs to the extent of the amounts received by each beneficiary, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
It also asked the court to compel the financial institutions to disclose the amounts recovered, provide details of the affected accounts, watchlist the identified BVNs, and prevent any further movement of the funds until the entire sum is recovered.
The bank further requested an order directing that any recovered funds be reversed to its designated account.
According to the affidavit supporting the application, Access Bank had earlier alerted the respondent institutions to the alleged fraud and requested them to preserve the funds and provide relevant account details to aid investigations.
The bank said some of the institutions had already placed temporary PND restrictions on the accounts but required a court order to maintain those restrictions.
Access Bank argued that urgent judicial intervention was necessary to prevent further dissipation of the funds, warning that failure to preserve the accounts could result in irreparable financial losses.
The bank also maintained that granting the application would support efforts to combat cybercrime, which it said poses a threat to Nigeria's economic and national interests.
The application was filed by lawyers from Country Hill Attorneys and Solicitors, led by Ifeoma Esther Enyinnaya, alongside Aishat Nurudeen and Faith Itua-Oboh, pursuant to the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, relevant constitutional provisions and the court's inherent jurisdiction.
The 71 respondents include major commercial banks, microfinance banks, fintech firms and payment service providers such as Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, First Bank, FCMB, GTBank, Jaiz Bank, Keystone Bank, Kuda, Moniepoint, OPay, PalmPay, Polaris Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Sterling Bank, Titan Trust Bank, Union Bank, UBA, Wema Bank, Zenith Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Providus/Unity Bank, MoMo PSB, Paga, KongaPay, SmartCash PSB and several others.
