Two South African exchange brothers hugged $ 3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin and fled in what became the biggest scam in history

The two founders of South Africa-based crypto investment firm AfriCrypt have disappeared along with 69,000 bitcoins (around $ 3.6 billion), according to a report. report from Bloomberg yesterday (June 23).

Ameer Cajee and Raees Cajee – operators of AfriCrypt

In mid-April, AfriCrypt customers received an email informing them that the platform had failed and accounts had been frozen due to hacking. Investors have a duty not to report the hack to law enforcement as the founders believe it will slow down the recovery of funds.

But shortly after the hack, two founding brothers, including Ameer Cajee, 20 and Raees Cajee, 17, allegedly transferred investor funds from an account at the headquarters of the First National Bank (FNB) in Johannesburg and fled to the UK.

Since the account was frozen, the Cajee Brothers have shut down the AfriCrypt website and are not answering calls from investors.

The case follows the infamous Mirror Trading International (MTI) scam that rocked South Africa and stole more than $ 589 million from people in the country in 2020.

At $ 3.6 billion, the money these two young men stole could turn out to be one of the biggest cryptocurrency scammers in history.

Hanekom Attorneys, the Cape Town-based law firm that represents some of AfriCrypt’s investors, said the funds were being channeled through a multitude of mixers, making them nearly impossible to track. The lawyers also said they had notified various global exchanges of the alleged theft so that they could track any attempts to convert bitcoins.

A separate investor group has initiated proceedings against AfriCrypt.

Crime allegations have been reported to the Hawks, a special division of the South African police force that deals with white-collar and organized crime.

However, the government’s ability to investigate the matter is limited due to the lack of a regulatory framework for digital assets in South Africa, which does not view cryptocurrencies as a financial product.

Teacher

According to Coindesk

Follow the Youtube Channel | Subscribe to telegram channel | Follow the Facebook page