Hackers pulled ₦7.7B in airtime and data from a telco
On today’s edition of Techpoint Digest, we discuss a ₦7.7bn telco hack that landed six suspects in police custody, Atsur’s push for African art to outlive its first buyer, and Moniepoint’s ₦1tn bet on small businesses.
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გამარჯობა,<br />
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Victoria from Techpoint here,<br />
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Here’s what I’ve got for you today:<br />
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₦7.7B telco hack lands 6 suspects in police net<br />
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Atsur wants African art to outlive its first buyer<br />
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Moniepoint’s ₦1 trillion bet on small businesses<br />
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₦7.7B telco hack lands 6 suspects in police net<br />
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Hacking Nigerian telcos isn’t just a side hustle anymore; it’s a multi-billion-naira crime. That reality hit home this week after police revealed that more than ₦7.7 billion worth of airtime and mobile data was siphoned from a Nigerian telecoms company through an internal systems breach.<br />
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The Nigeria Police Force says it has arrested six suspects linked to the attack, following a petition from the unnamed telco. Per a police spokesperson Benjamin Hundeyin, the suspects gained access by compromising internal staff login credentials, giving them unlawful entry into the company’s billing and payment systems. The operation was carried out with the National Cybercrime Centre (NCCC).<br />
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Arrests were made across Kano, Katsina, and the Federal Capital Territory after coordinated operations that began in October 2025. Police say they recovered two residential houses, two mini-plazas, several GSM and laptop retail outlets, over 400 laptops, 1,000 mobile phones, and a Toyota RAV4. Substantial sums of money traced to the suspects’ bank accounts were also seized, with all six expected to be charged in court once investigations wrap up.<br />
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For everyday Nigerians, this case matters because hacks like this don’t just hurt telecom companies, they can affect service quality, pricing, and trust in the systems people rely on daily for communication, payments, and business. It also highlights how insider access and weak internal controls can expose critical digital infrastructure to massive losses.<br />
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The arrests fit into a wider crackdown on organised cybercrime in Nigeria. In October, the NPF-NCCC secured convictions against 59 foreign nationals involved in a major international fraud syn...
