African payment processor CinetPay is grappling with the fallout from a September 2025 cyberattack that siphoned off large sums, leaving customers, including Nigerian fintech DPay, owed more than $1.2 million (CFA 655 million) in unsettled funds as of February 2026, despite promises of repayment.
The incidents, described as “cyber fraud” in police reports from Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso, involved intruders exploiting internal limits to withdraw money and launder it across multiple mobile wallets, evading detection until substantial amounts had vanished. CinetPay, which processes over six million transactions monthly for more than 25,000 businesses across five West African countries, detected the breach only after the damage was done, according to documents obtained by TechCabal. The attack struck just 20 days after Senegalese authorities launched an investigation into CinetPay for allegedly facilitating money laundering, organized fraud, and illegal online gambling, claims the company denies, attributing them to a third-party merchant misusing its platform. The potential link between the probe and the cyber incidents remains unclear.
For partners like DPay, the delays have been crippling. By early August 2025, CinetPay owed DPay CFA 250 million ($455,000), a figure that ballooned to over CFA 655 million ($1.2 million) by September. A December 18, 2025, legal notice demanded immediate payment of CFA 655,209,302.95, representing funds collected via CinetPay’s platform. “Merchants depend on the timely settlement of funds to run their operations. By withholding customer funds for months, this situation has restricted our access to working capital and affected our ability to serve our clients,” DPay’s operations manager John Schubbe told TechCabal in January 2026. As of February 1, 2026, no repayments have been made, exacerbating liquidity issues for small and mid-sized businesses reliant on predictable cash flows.
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In an October 3, 2025, letter signed by CEO Daniel Dindji, CinetPay acknowledged the attacks’ impact on cash flow: “CinetPay has recently been the victim of significant cyber fraud incidents, notably in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Bailiff reports, as well as official complaints filed in each of these countries, attest to the reality of these incidents. These events, which had a direct and substantial impact on our cash flow, explain the delays observed in the execution of our commitments.” The company proposed a repayment plan in September 2025 but has not followed through, and it has ignored media inquiries from December 2025 to January 2026.
Founded in 2016 by Idriss Monthe and Daniel Dindji, the Ivorian fintech offers payment collection and settlement via mobile money, cards, and online methods, charging 2.5%–3.5% fees and typically settling within two days. It raised $2.4 million in a 2021 seed round from 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave, aiming to bridge fragmented Francophone African payments like Orange Money, MTN MoMo, and Wave. In September 2025, CinetPay secured a BCEAO license for operations in WAEMU countries (including Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo), one of 30 fintechs meeting standards for anti-fraud controls, resilient infrastructure, and minimum capital of 100 million CFA.
This crisis underscores vulnerabilities in African fintech security, where BCEAO’s tightened regulations over the past two years aim to enforce robust AML and fraud measures, yet incidents like this test enforcement. In 2025, 81.1% of retail traders in the region lost money, averaging 21,000 yuan ($3,014) each, highlighting broader economic strains.
Peers like Wave and Flutterwave have faced their own scrutiny, but CinetPay’s woes highlight the risks for smaller players in a market where cross-border licensing promises interoperability but demands ironclad security. As regulators like BCEAO ramp up oversight, the episode could spur calls for stronger protections—or deter investment in a sector vital for Africa’s digital economy.
