South African police investigating alleged Africrypt bitcoin scam

Authorities in South Africa have launched an investigation into the Africrypt bitcoin (BTC) investment saga, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday, following complaints by people affected by the alleged theft of millions of dollars in BTC.

Raees and Ameer Cajee, the two central figures who ran the Africrypt platform, reportedly disappeared in April of last year after informing investors of an alleged hack. Africrypt victims have now urged South African law enforcement to launch a probe into the matter.

According to Bloomberg, the police in four South African provinces have begun a preliminary investigation.

The Africrypt situation is only one of several high-profile bitcoin-related scams to come out of South Africa. Another such case, Mirror Trading International (MTI), has attracted the attention of law enforcement in the United States over the alleged Ponzi scheme that siphoned 23,000 BTC from victims both in South Africa and across 170 countries.

These high-profile scams have also prompted South African regulators to move towards enacting protective regulations in 2022.

About Author

Osato is a news reporter at The Block as part of the crypto ecosystems team that focuses on DAO governance, staking, blockchain layers, and DeFi. He was previously a news reporter at Cointelegraph. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, he enjoys crosswords, poker, and attempting to beat his Scrabble high score. Follow him on Twitter at @OsatoNomayo.