A South African cryptocurrency investment company, AfriCrypt, has allegedly defrauded about $3.6 billion (about R54bn) in investor funds, after the company said its trading system was “hacked”.
A total of 69 000 bitcoins were stolen.
Investors were told to not report the hack to law enforcement, which the founders claimed would slow the recovery process.
However, AfriCrypt founders, Ameer Cajee, 17, and his brother, Raees Cajee, 20, then allegedly transferred the invested pooled funds from a South African account before fleeing to the UK.
Investors were reportedly instructed to deposit funds via EFT into AfriCrypt’s FNB banking account.
FNB risk spokesperson Nadiah Maharaj spoke to Business Report and refused to acknowledge any relationship with the fraud-accused company.
The story was broken by the investigative unit through BR on July 17.
“FNB once again confirms that it does not have a banking relationship with Africrypt. Due to client confidentiality, FNB cannot provide any information on specific bank accounts,” Maharaj said.
AfriCrypt investors lost access to the…
