The Nigeria Police Force’s Cybercrime Centre has arrested a 27-year-old woman for allegedly forging and spreading a fake document claiming fintech giant OPay was shutting down, a hoax that sparked customer panic and triggered a wave of hasty withdrawals.
The suspect, identified as Hafsat Abubakar, a graduate of Library and Information Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was picked up by police operatives on September 4, following a digital forensic trail that investigators say led directly to an X (formerly Twitter) account allegedly operated by her.
The trouble began in the last days of August, when a document purporting to be an official communication from OPay Nigeria Limited began circulating widely on social media. The message claimed the company would suspend operations from September 1, and urged customers to withdraw their funds ahead of the supposed shutdown.
For a platform that processes millions of transactions for everyday Nigerians, from bank transfers to bill payments, the claim was combustible. It spread quickly across WhatsApp groups and social timelines, stoking fear among users and, according to police, prompting a number of them to pull money from their accounts before the rumour could be verified.
OPay moved swiftly to contain the fallout. The company’s Chief Legal Counsel, Akinfolabi Rokosu, addressed the matter at a press conference, stressing that the company remained fully operational and warning that anyone responsible for originating or amplifying the false claims would face legal consequences.
According to Rokosu, OPay escalated the matter to security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force, precisely because false information of this nature carries the potential to erode public confidence in the financial system and inflict real financial harm on customers who act on panic rather than fact.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, Force Public Relations Officer ACP Anietie Iniedu walked reporters through the timeline of the investigation.
He explained that the NPF-NCCC received a formal petition from OPay Digital Services Limited on August 31, routed through the office of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police overseeing the Force Criminal Investigation Department.
The petition requested urgent investigation, tracing, and apprehension of those responsible for fabricating and circulating the fraudulent notice.
Once the petition was approved, cybercrime investigators deployed digital forensic tools to dissect the origins of the publication. That trail, Iniedu said, led to a post on an X handle allegedly operated by Abubakar, culminating in her arrest just days later, on September 4.
Iniedu described the case as emblematic of a broader and growing danger: the capacity of digitally fabricated content to destabilize businesses, rattle financial systems, and chip away at public trust often within hours, before institutions can mount a credible rebuttal.
Police say the investigation is not yet closed and that anyone else found to have played a role in creating or spreading the forged document will be prosecuted in line with the law.
Iniedu used the briefing to issue a broader public advisory, urging Nigerians to verify sensitive claims, particularly those concerning banks and financial platforms, through official channels before sharing or acting on them.
The episode underscores a challenge increasingly familiar to fintech operators and regulators alike: in a media environment where a single viral post can outrun an official correction, the line between rumour and reality can blur fast enough to move real money and real fear.
For OPay, one of Nigeria’s most widely used mobile payment platforms, the incident was as much a reputational stress test as a criminal matter, and the company’s rapid public rebuttal, paired with the police’s swift forensic response, appears to have been aimed at cutting off the panic before it could metastasise further.
Whether Abubakar acted alone, and what her motive may have been, remains part of the ongoing investigation.
For now, authorities are treating the case as a cautionary tale both for platforms vulnerable to disinformation and for the customers who, in moments of uncertainty, must decide in seconds whether to trust an official channel or a viral screenshot.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
A 27-year-old woman, Hafsat Abubakar, was arrested by the Nigeria Police Force’s Cybercrime Centre for allegedly forging and circulating a fake notice claiming OPay was shutting down a hoax that caused real panic and led customers to withdraw funds unnecessarily.
OPay has confirmed it remains fully operational, and the key takeaway is simple: verify claims about your bank or fintech platform through official channels before acting on viral posts, since a single piece of fabricated content can cause genuine financial harm before the truth catches up.
