Fresh concerns have emerged over the safety of customers’ financial data as several customers of ProvidusUnity Bank have reported unauthorised transactions on their debit cards, months after a major data breach exposed sensitive information belonging to multiple Nigerian institutions.
Some affected customers took to X on Friday to complain that unknown persons had carried out transactions on their cards without their authorisation, raising fears that the earlier cyberattack may have compromised customers’ financial information.
A number of customers, who spoke with journalists on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they had experienced similar incidents.
When contacted, the bank’s spokesperson, Dafe Ivwurie, did not confirm or deny the allegations but said the bank would investigate the complaints.
“We will do some internal investigation and revert,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the bank had yet to issue a detailed response on the reported unauthorised transactions.
The development comes about three months after hackers breached the databases of several Nigerian institutions, including Sterling Bank and the electronic payment platform Remita, with a hacker identified as Bytetobreach publishing sensitive data allegedly obtained during the cyberattack.
Following the incident, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission announced in April that it had commenced an investigation into the breach.
However, more than three months later, the commission is yet to make public the outcome of its probe.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations at the NDPC, Babatunde Bamigboye, on the fresh complaints by ProvidusUnity customers were unsuccessful as he could not be reached as of press time.
The latest complaints have renewed concerns over the increasing threat posed by cybercrime and data breaches in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
According to cybersecurity firm Surfboard, Nigeria recorded about 281,000 email breaches within the first quarter of 2026 alone, underscoring the growing scale of cyberattacks targeting individuals and organisations.
The Federal Government has also acknowledged the challenge. In June, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, pledged that the NDPC would investigate the illegal sale of Nigerians’ personal data by unauthorised websites.
Official figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission indicate that Nigeria has millions of internet users and more than 130 million National Identification Number enrolments, making the protection of personal and financial data an increasingly critical national issue.
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