Thursday, June 24th 2021

Biggest Crypto Scam Ever Recorded Sees Appropriation of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin - AfriCrypt

The biggest crypto scam ever recorded (so far, of course) has made investors lose some $3.6 billion. The scam was enacted by a pair of South African brothers, Ameer Cajee and his brother Raees Cajee, who funded crypto investment firm AfriCrypt in 2019. Another element of warning for all crypto investors, in that rug pulls can obviously be done years after the start of a project - so longevity and temporal maintenance of a given project shouldn't be the "be all, end all" of your due diligence when choosing where to invest your money into.

The story goes as follows: circle back to April 2021, when Bitcoin was at its peak value of around $62,000. That was when AfriCrypt's COO and current heist suspect Ameer Cajee informed users of the platform of a hack - and asked investor not to contact authorities or seek legal proceedings, saying that those actions might impede progress in dealing with its effects and recovery of the funds.
However, this announcement came a week after AfriCrypt employees lost access to their back-end platforms - platforms which would likely enable someone to spot any ongoing shenannigans with the funds managed by the company. After a group of investors hired an attorney firm (Hanekom Attorneys) to investigate the issue, they discovered that all Bitcoin banked in AfriCrypt transferred from its South African accounts and client wallets to Bitcoin wallets and tumblers (specific services that pool tainted and legitimate Bitcoins and then distribute them randomly, providing virtual untraceability). Exchanges have been warned of the scam and should be on the lookout for the stolen Bitcoin, but whether or not that amounts to anything is another story.

Elite South African police force Hawks, who specialize in organized crime, has been made aware of the case, and so has South Africa's Finance Sector Conduct Authority. The Authority, however, has its hands tied on the investigation considering that crypto assets are not legally considered financial products, thus living in a "no man's zone" when it comes to investigative authority. This may be the biggest scam in crypto's relatively young history, but it certainly won't be the last (or the biggest) ever. That AfriCrypt offered 10% daily returns on investments made through its platform should have been enough for users to take pause - but as always, some didn't.
Source: TechSpot
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34 Comments on Biggest Crypto Scam Ever Recorded Sees Appropriation of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin - AfriCrypt

#1
64K
"That Africrypt offered 10% daily returns on investments made through its platform should have been enough for users to take pause - but as always, some didn't."


When it sounds to good to be true it probably is.
Posted on Reply
#2
Raevenlord
News Editor
64KWhen it sounds to good to be true it probably is.
People believing that sounds too good to be true.
Posted on Reply
#3
sparkyar
10% daily returns... enough said
Posted on Reply
#4
BMfan80
South Africa and Indians,not like it happened before with the Zuma\Gupta "friendship"
Posted on Reply
#5
Chomiq
Much secure, much profit, gib more bitcoin plox.
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#6
cryohellinc
"creates a whole system to be unregulated by government and authorities"
"stuff gets stolen"
"wants government and authorities to investigate"
Good news. Crypto scum got what they deserve
Posted on Reply
#7
leppie
These guys are aged 17 and 20 now.

Who in their right mind would trust kids with money?

And they have fled to the UK apparently.
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#9
Jism
leppieThese guys are aged 17 and 20 now.

Who in their right mind would trust kids with money?

And they have fled to the UK apparently.
Well it won't be long really. It's not like those country's do not have a extradiction agreement.

I mean dubai was a safe harbor; but at the end of the summer more and more country's are closing deals to simply catch and export criminals.

These people are stupid really. You dont think people are going to haunt and follow you? This is stuff you can watch the rest of your life your back.
Posted on Reply
#10
dragontamer5788
leppieThese guys are aged 17 and 20 now.

Who in their right mind would trust kids with money?

And they have fled to the UK apparently.
Ethereum's founder, Vitalik was born in 1994, and Ethereum began in early 2014 or so. He was already programming Ethereum for some time at that point and published papers on the concept in 2013.

Trusting random kids is the standard in the cryptocurrency world. Also, kids are pretty decent programmers these days.
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#11
Mescalamba
One look at these guys is enough. Not because their color, but because their "wibe".
Posted on Reply
#12
mak1skav
I get a vibe of that "Nigerian prince" scam in this lol, don't let your dreams be memes ;)
Posted on Reply
#13
leppie
dragontamer5788Trusting random kids is the standard in the cryptocurrency world. Also, kids are pretty decent programmers these days.
As a programmer, I would not trust anyone under 25. Yeah, they might be brilliant, but they lack experience, foresight and responsibility.

Edit: Opensource platforms do make things safer as you can have some oversight. Doubt these clowns opensourced their platform. Would not be surprised if they just used some Wordpress template :D

Edit2: Google for `resources/theme/plugins` which is from wayback machine resources on the site and you get Wordpress links galore... LOL
Posted on Reply
#14
human_error
Stealing $3.6bn in Bitcoin. Absolute madness, as within the group of people who have been robbed will be plenty of people willing to pay good money for these guys to be found and killed, plus any unsavory characters spotting them will know they have access to a massive amount of untraceable money. Either way these guys will need to watch their backs constantly for the rest of their lives (however long that may be). The reason heists of this scale don't happen often is because most people aren't stupid enough to put such a big target on their backs..
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#15
TheUn4seen
Look, I'm a greedy bastard myself, but come on, falling for a 10% a day return is being a greedy dumbass, nothing more.
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#17
ThomasEichorst
Anyone who buys buttcoins of any kind should be prepared for this. There will be no sympathy for you from the general public, after all you do know the WHOLE thing is a pump and dump, so you know what you're getting into.
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#18
MentalAcetylide
MescalambaOne look at these guys is enough. Not because their color, but because their "wibe".
Well, they really do make a good pair! Of course, that's what the monkey said when he looked at his nuts.
When those two are found & caught, I can imagine its going to be like that one scene from the 1972 film Deliverance.
Posted on Reply
#19
DeathtoGnomes
MentalAcetylideWell, they really do make a good pair! Of course, that's what the monkey said when he looked at his nuts.
When those two are found & caught, I can imagine its going to be like that one scene from the 1972 film Deliverance.
Jack Ruby / LHO
Posted on Reply
#20
Caring1
Well if Bitcoin was made illegal globally it's value would essentially be wiped out, rendering those two broke.
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#21
DeathtoGnomes
Caring1Well if Bitcoin was made illegal globally it's value would essentially be wiped out, rendering those two broke.
it cant, way too late for that.
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#22
pantherx12
ThomasEichorstAnyone who buys buttcoins of any kind should be prepared for this. There will be no sympathy for you from the general public, after all you do know the WHOLE thing is a pump and dump, so you know what you're getting into.
It's been going on since 2010 or so, it's hardly a pump and dump. A lot of people do that, but they also do that with stocks. Markets , any market is able to be manipulated.

Remember intel anti consumer practices driving AMD down almost to bankruptcy?
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#23
Steevo
I thought 9ne of the keystones of crypto was its security against theft.....
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#24
dragontamer5788
Caring1Well if Bitcoin was made illegal globally it's value would essentially be wiped out, rendering those two broke.
Given that BTC was near $60,000 when they stole it all, its very possible that these two people are the ones who dumped BTC's price down to $40k by selling a $Billion worth of coins.
Posted on Reply
#25
arepakiller
64K"That Africrypt offered 10% daily returns on investments made through its platform should have been enough for users to take pause - but as always, some didn't."


When it sounds to good to be true it probably is.
Unless you scalp a RTX 3070 TI at 1300 and sell it for 2600.
Posted on Reply
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