South Africa Records The Biggest Cryptocurrency Scam Ever

South Africa has recorded the biggest cryptocurrency scam ever after AfriCrypt founders made away with $3.6 billion in bitcoins. The founders, who are brothers, are now gone.

AfriCrypt connects banks, payment providers, digital asset exchanges, and corporates making global money transfers seamless.

AfriCrypt’s Founder and CEO, Raees Cajee first learned of Bitcoin in 2009 while watching the news with his father and has been hooked since. The founder also claimed to have started mining ETH while still in school and developing his own AI-powered trading algorithm. “It was this dynamic and innovative trading system that has fuelled AfriCrypt’s astronomical growth from a one-man operation running out of a bedroom to one of Africa’s largest and most successful AI trading companies in only a few years,” he reportedly told investors.

The exchange platform then appeared in 2019 and was able to collect more than 50,000 bitcoins.

However, in April of this year, Ameer Cajee, COO of AfriCrypt, the main suspect in this crime, informed users that the platform had been attacked by hackers. Once it claimed it had been hacked, the company allegedly urged its investors through an email not to report as authorities would frustrate recovery efforts.

“We urge all clients to please be patient as we attempt to resolve the situation at hand. It is understandable that clients may proceed the legal route, but we ask clients to please acknowledge that this will only delay the recovery process,” the email read.

AfriCrypt targeted high-net-worth individuals and celebrities, according to reports. It was this target market that allowed AfriCrypt to reach wealthy investors in their inner circles The company promised ludicrous returns, at times claiming it could offer 10% daily returns. Many clients invested upwards of R1.5 million ($105,000), with some going as high as R20 million ($1.4 million).

The truth blew up when a group of investors hired law firm Hanekom Attones to investigate the situation. The investigation revealed that all the bitcoins deposited with AfriCrypt had been transferred from South African accounts and clients’ wallets to various cryptocurrency wallets and services which made their virtual tracking impossible.