The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the freezing of bank accounts in 71 financial institutions as Access Bank seeks to recover N1.34 billion allegedly diverted from customers’ accounts through a suspected cyber fraud.
Justice Akintayo Aluko issued the interim order on Monday following an ex parte application filed by Access Bank through its counsel, Ifeoma E. Enyinnaya.
The order places a Post No Debit, PND, restriction on accounts said to have received portions of the disputed funds. It bars withdrawals or transfers pending further proceedings.
How alleged fraud was uncovered
According to court documents, Access Bank said it uncovered the fraud on August 12, 2026, after detecting unusual transactions on several customer accounts.
The bank alleged that the unauthorised transfers were carried out through its internet banking platform for businesses, the Access SME App.
“Upon resumption on 12th August 2026, the Applicant noticed a fraud incident which occurred on some accounts domiciled with the Applicant and was perpetrated through one of the Applicant’s internet banking applications known as Access SME App,” Access Bank stated in its filing.
The bank said an internal investigation traced the movement of N1,340,425,393 from customers’ accounts into several beneficiary accounts maintained with Access Bank and 71 other financial institutions.
Fearing the money could be dissipated, the bank approached the court on August 13 seeking urgent preservative orders.
Among the reliefs sought by Access Bank was an order directing all affected banks to place a PND on accounts and BVNs listed in Exhibits Access 1 and 2, including any other accounts that benefited from the N1.34 billion.
The bank also asked the court to compel the 71 respondent banks to file affidavits disclosing amounts salvaged in the affected accounts, and to watchlist the BVNs linked to the transactions until the full sum is recovered.
Justice Aluko granted the first three requests. He ordered the freezing of the accounts, the disclosure of beneficiary details, and the watchlisting of the affected BVNs.
However, the judge declined Access Bank’s request for an immediate reversal of the funds. He held that reversing the money at this stage would amount to granting a final relief before the substantive application is heard.
The judge adjourned the case to August 31, 2026, when the court is expected to consider Access Bank’s motion for the recovery and reversal of the allegedly diverted funds.
The development comes amid rising concerns over cyber fraud targeting business banking platforms in Nigeria.