Data breach: ProvidusUnity customers report unauthorized card transactions

Fresh concerns over the security of customer financial data have emerged as several ProvidusUnity Bank customers reported unauthorized transactions on their debit cards, months after a major data breach exposed sensitive information belonging to multiple Nigerian institutions.

On Friday, some affected customers approached

Several customers, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, confirmed they had experienced similar incidents.

When contacted, the bank’s spokesperson, Dafe Ivwurie, neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, but said the bank would investigate the complaints.

“We will do some internal investigation and cancel,” he said.

At the time of submitting this report, the bank has not yet issued a detailed response regarding the unauthorized transactions reported.

The development comes about three months after hackers breached the databases of several Nigerian institutions, including Sterling Bank and electronic payment platform Remita, with a hacker identified as Bytetobreach publishing sensitive data allegedly obtained during the cyberattack.

Following the incident, the Data Protection Commission of Nigeria announced in April that it had launched an investigation into the breach.

However, more than three months later, the commission has yet to make public the outcome of its investigation.

Efforts to obtain comments from the Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulatory at the NDPC, Babatunde Bamigboye, on the new complaints from ProvidusUnity customers were unsuccessful as he could not be contacted by press time.

The latest reports have renewed concerns about the growing threat posed by cybercrime and data breaches in Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital economy.

According to cybersecurity firm Surfboard, Nigeria recorded approximately 281,000 email breaches in the first quarter of 2026 alone, underscoring the growing scale of cyberattacks against individuals and organizations.

The federal government has also recognized the challenge. In June, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, promised that the NDPC would investigate the illegal sale of Nigerians’ personal data by unauthorized websites.

Official data from the Nigerian Communications Commission indicates that Nigeria has millions of Internet users and more than 130 million registrations with national identification numbers, making the protection of personal and financial data an increasingly critical national issue.

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