Bitcoin Forum

This was even backed by a a bank


Two men in South Africa could have just pulled off the largest cryptocurrency heist in history.

Ameer Cajee and his younger brother, Raees Cajee, started a new digital coin in 2019 called Africrypt.
Cryptocurrency had been around for a couple of years, but this continent-specific coin attracted a lot of attention and loads of people invested their money hoping to make a quick buck.

The coin rocketed up in value and during the April peak of this year it was worth an incredible $4 billion.

Now the Cajee brothers have disappeared with the money and can't be found anywhere.


When the digital currency reached its limit a few months ago, Ameer told everyone that Africrypt had been hacked and their accounts, wallets and nodes had been compromised, according to Business Insider.

The 20-year-old, who is the company's chief operating officer, bizarrely told their clients not to report this issue to authorities so they could handle the hack and said authorities would prevent them from getting to the bottom of the issue.

While many heeded the warning, the Independent Online reports there were a few customers who thought the whole thing was a little fishy and contacted Hanekom Attorneys.

At the same time, all the Africrypt had been transferred into 69,000 Bitcoins.

Hanekom Attorneys told Bloomberg: "We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action. Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms seven days before the alleged hack."

A South African police unit was called in when the lawyers couldn't get hold of the brothers.

However, the nature of cryptocurrency means it's exceedingly difficult to trace and work out how to prosecute.

South Africa's Finance Sector Conduct Authority, the country's financial institutions regulator, said cryptocurrency-related matters aren't in their jurisdiction. Therefore, the hunt is on to find the authority responsible for tracking down this sort of crime.
FNB, one of South Africa's big five banks and funded Africrypt, has denied any sort of responsibility for the missing brothers and currency.

In a statement to the Independent, FNB risk spokesperson Nadiah Maharaj said: "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."

It highlights the ongoing concern related to cryptocurrencies and their currently unregulated market.


https://www.ladbible.com/news/latest-two-brothers-have-disappeared-with-36-billion-worth-of-bitcoin-20210624?source=lboz&fbclid=IwAR0rGNO3BhEOcmsXhulOKaOI6Y5naHJ_vni_Kcpy7F_Y9tM4Vi1TlltQBBI

It is a pity that on the one hand this kind of news gives cryptocurrencies a bad name and on the other hand how some poor people have been scammed. What we should take away from this is the "not your keys...".

That's what happen when you invest in a centralized shitcoin. My condolence to the people who lost everything in this scam.

PS: Just checked on CMC. This Africrypt does not even exist there.

This is a premeditated plan of exit scam, they want people to have second thoughts about how it's coincidental that they disappear while having their exchange getting scammed recently. This is the problem for many people, they don't seem to understand the idea of "not your keys, not your coins" and they trust wholeheartedly their money in exchanges that aren't even remotely reputable or big.

Can you imagine if Coinbase and Binance did something like this ?  I have crypto in both which I use for staking.  I would lose a lot of money as would millions of others. Makes me pretty nervous tbh lol

In the case of Coinbase and Binance I see it as much more improbable, but the phrase "not your keys..." does not only apply to the fact that you can be scammed. Coinbase may decide to freeze your account for legal reasons, for example. If you have your keys, you can go abroad with your coins and nobody can freeze them.

This Africrypt is not an actual exchange, but more like one of those ponzi trading platforms that uses "Artifical Inteligence" to bring their investors unrealistically high daily ROI ( I read somewhere that it was something like 10% daily which should have been a huge red flag for anyone thinking about investing. But as we know, people suck at these things.

Few quotes from archived version of their website. Pay attention to when their CEO allegedly learned about bitcoin. By the way, he is 17 years old now :D

Yes it it very unlikely but you just never know. If it ever did happen there is no way to  get any of the money back and I think its this which makes people very weary of investing or using Crypto. With banks if you loose money through a scam they normally give all or some of it back.


Here is an opportunity for a  new coin to be used as insurance for crypto scams :)

Weak! Where have they been all these years when bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are making headlines? Even if there are no specific policies/rules/regulations about crypto as a currency, they could still act on this as it's still about investment.

A lot of greedy as well as innocent people lost their money with this project. This is why I sometimes feel regulation in the crypto sphere can be helpful. This incident reminded me of many incidents same as the present one happening in the past. People fall for such scams as they think they will become rich in just a few years but they forget they will become poor if the scammers leave with their money.

So apparently those greedy people caught on a Ponzi scheme and lost their money. Greed and fear are the best asset for scammers.

Is he publicly known? If yes, then he can not hide anything and will need to accept the consequences.

Yep. People tend to think that crypto is some kind of magic money after hearing people getting rich so for them 10% daily ROI through "advanced artificial intelligence systems" seems ok.



Yeah, those two brothers behind this scheme are well known so hopefully they pay the consequences.

https://cdn.24.co.za/files/Cms/General/d/11300/949356ccd0054c05808e959f804110d6.jpg
https://www.businessinsider.co.za/behind-the-africrypt-bitcoin-exit-scam-allegedly-run-by-south-african-brothers-ameer-cajee-and-raees-cajee-2021-6

Sad story but that is the human nature by default we are greedy and if this greed is fed further then these things happen.The lesson to be learned here is to only invest in major cryptos which has been around for years and not fall for the bait of new "promising shining coins" as the end results usually will be like this story.

it is clear that this is a very sensational story and very sad for those who have invested their funds there. what do you say that greed is a human trait that already exists and can do things that are not commendable if given the opportunity to do so because there is no control from others.

I agree this will definitely be a useful lesson for all those who really want to invest in crypto, especially because something always overshadows everyone who wants to invest not being observant and analyzing properly, because they can fall into the trap of greedy people like them. it is better to invest in something that has been known and tested so far and is widely available if you want to analyze it properly first.

Given the pseudonymous nature of most cryptocurrencies and the possibility of transfers to privacy coins or transfers through tumblers and mixers, this sort of thing will remain a risk for the foreseeable future. One way to mitigate this risk is to invest only in the reputable projects and coins and even then, like others have pointed out "not your keys, not your coin".

Only if they make a mistake and reveal themselves. As things look now, they planned this very well and I have no doubt that they had an exit scam in the beginning - and then they had just enough time to cover up all traces and disappear with new identities, maybe even with new faces - because with 69 000 BTC is not hard to buy a whole new life anywhere in the world.

Every day I wonder if there is an end to human stupidity and naivety, but these two human qualities seem to be as infinite as the universe. What's worse in the whole story, I believe that at least 50% of those who lost their money in this scam will find themselves in the same situation again.

It's true, that amount of money can buy you pretty much anything, but one of the questions is whether they will have enough constraint not to go on the spending spree, given their young age, and the amount of money they managed to scam. All is good as along as you are living just an ordinary life, but when you start buying luxury stuff, it may catch someone's attention. If I have to put my money on the outcome of all this, I would say that they will be caught eventually.


Worst of all, people that lost money this way tend to blame bitcoin, instead of themselves.

This is a ponzi scheme from the very beginning, so I don't know why investors still fall for this kind of trap. Although I must admit that people are greedy and this is the main reason that they don't think logically when making their investments.

So probably a exit scam, but for sure, if either one of the brothers makes a mistake, they can still be trace back and hopefully investors can get back their money and learn a very expensive lessons.

That's the thing, I think that it is easier to steal that amount of money (not that is easy at all) than remain hidden. You really have to able to control yourself not to spend that kind of money. On top of it, those are basically still kids, as one is 17 yo and other is probably not much older. So yeah, my guess it that they will be caught eventually, if there is enough effort put to find them.

How is it a Ponzi though? I mean Ponzi gets it's money from a continuous influx of investor? They're an exchange so I don't get how they are a Ponzi. I might be wrong though which means that if it is a Ponzi then probably they did a good job disguising it to look like a real one for that many investors to pour their money in the exchange. I don't think that they will be tracked, pretty sure that this exit scam is premeditated and they know how to not get tracked already.

It's really a bad news to those who are victims of this tragedy and also a serious warming and experience to those who are curious to invest into crypto currency market to take mindful precautions so as to be safe in pursuing financial freedom

Africrypt wasn't exchange, as wrongly presented in majority of media, but investing platform that promised 10 % daily ROI on the investment, and they claimed that they were able to bring that kind of profit thanks to "AI driven trading platform", which is just a standard bullshit to hide that there is no trading going on, but instead it's just an ordinary ponzi that can live as long as there is constant influx of new investors.

Those two brothers naturally didn't want to wait for that, so they just did exit scam and disappeared with the bitcoin they had at that moment.

So the news were fake that were claiming that the exchange was hacked and the owners ran with the money, this is the problem we are facing, people are not even telling the facts and there is a major difference between an exchange and a ponzi scam and i cannot understand why majority of the media are writing this as a major exchange hack while it is a exit scam from the beginning.

69,000 bitcoins is a huge scam that will remain in the minds of these South African investors.
The creators of the project are very young and it occurred to investors to invest in a coin with little support.
It is a sadness for affected investors, I hope it is clear that
that the scammers were these guys because bitcoin has misconceptions about scam.
If there is a thorough investigation, they could arrest the guilty and make them pay for their crime.

And people would just realized when its too late.They do never learn and make out some research first before doing something or simply when making investment and this had been a typical scenario on this market and there are lots of projects out there do really end up on being a scam where they do make out alibis that they had been hacked or something about being compromised and due to characteristic and feature of crypto then they are really taking advantage of it and when they had done it on a country where crypto isnt regulated or something then that would be surely making things even more
harder to be traced up.This isnt something new and condolence into those people who had invested and hoping for nothing.

This cannot yet be a valid decision declaring the victim. We all only know information from this article, while there is no other information that makes it strong that they are victims.
We all know conspiracies and falsification of facts through some drama stories, being skeptical of an issue is necessary.
And to declare a victim, we must know the root of the problem until it is clean, including the parties involved.

This is why media most of the time mislead people from the real truth. They jump on the news without doing their research first. If this exit strategy is a well-planned one, would be hard to track these 2 brothers. Maybe they are already living their life in one of the tropical islands. If no one will seriously sue this company, they can get away from this multi-billion ponzi scheme.

Very clever scammer, they were using cryptocurrencies to attract investor with little or no knowledge about cryptocurrencies,

because of their sweet mouth, then can convince many to put their trust in them.

I felt very sorry for those they called them self as a victim,

others believe that there someone who can be trusted, and willing to help them to earn some living, some people, make advantage to others, and  is how this really works.

This kind of scams kill image of Crypto currencies and ordinary people refrain from investing in it. Mass adaption of crypto will never see light of the day if Scammers continue to loot hard earned money of innocent people that is why it has to be brought under the umbrella  of Regulatory authorities in every country.

https://cryptostaunch.com/cryptocurrency-scams.html

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't expect a Ponzi scheme being successful and have a lot of investors because I am pretty sure that you can practically smell that it is a scam because of the promised ROI, that's impossible wven for a legitimate investment.

This is one short exit-scam story in a thick book full of crypto exit-scams. There are different kinds of crypto exit-scam projects. I remembered during the height of ICO, there were countless of projects that ended up scams after raising millions and millions of money from investors.

The fact that this project was backed by a bank doesn't say anything about its legitimacy. Banks are usually there for the money.

Didn't the bank got scammed too or they benefited from the exit scam too like the brothers who allegedly disappeared. I wasn't that familiar with ICO but I do remember some of them but I can't put a pin what is their name, they were pretty promising and the people behind the projects were pretty interactive to their community that a lot of investors didn't expect that their money will be swindled.

Shouldn't we blame people on this who invest in scam coins and low volume exchanges and later cry when they exit scam.
Why the scammers are again n again able to scam people with different exchanges n coins, because its we people who always fell in their trap. If we stop investing in such coins and exchanges, these scammers will disappear automatically.

I highly doubt the bank is a victim here. FNB funded Africrypt but it should have been given as a loan, which should have already been paid as the project has made a lot of money. I don't think FNB, which is one of South Africa's top banks, would easily fall to this scam. If it were a loan, Africrypt must have left a collateral whose value exceeded that of the loan provided. It is hard to imagine a huge bank privately funding what used to be a start-up crypto project ran by two youngsters in their twenties.

And also, Africrypt has accounts in the bank. The bank could easily seize what remains there to pay for its outstanding loan if it still has any.

But then what Africrypt has is Bitcoin, which's not easy to seize. The bank must be part of this scam.
The disappearance reminds me of the story of the two influencers of Bitconnect that end up dead in a deserted place in Mexico.  $3.6B of Bitcoin could turn an innocent mind into a deal criminal, they both could be dead buried in a shallow grave.

Nah, because if you think about it, these two brothers don't look like they're well-connected - it would be incredibly difficult to cash out that much BTC since that particular UTXO would've been blocked by most exchanges, and all exchanges have stringent KYC requirements anyway so without somebody's identity to use...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ even with a stolen passport bought from the darknet, the BTC is still on the exchange but you have nowhere to withdraw it to without having anyone's bank.

Most things cannot be bought without a credit card or bank account anyway so it's just a pile of 69,000BTC sitting there that they can't do much with (except maybe, launder it by mining with bought ASICs?) without anybody to help them.

You're right but that adds another layer of suspicion because that means that this is a really big conspiracy between Africrypt and FNB because you are right, they wouldn't fall for this easily unless they have something to get out of the scheme. *Wears tinfoil hat.

It looks like this scam exchange topic has been discussed in another section
As a reminder, exchanges are complex and require a high level of management to operate properly

these two brothers are still under 21 years old, which means their minds are immature and are still childish
being able to run away with that much money is the stupidity of investors, why would they put money on a child

Well, that's not entirely true, there were other projects that really made a lot of people rich although I can't point a lot because they got drowned by scams but there are some that's legitimate, that's for sure. Maybe a little research could've saved them from the potential scams.

If you have greed, that's the end result.  Losing money for those who have a greedy nature is a form of punishment for them.  Many people fall into such scams because they think they will be rich in just a few years, but they forget that they will be poor if the fraudsters walk away with their money.  Therefore, be careful when doing business in the world of coins.

And do not believe in such promises that will them wealthy in just a short span of time. The topic is a Ponzi scheme and those brothers ran already with the money. Sorry for those who have been left by the scammers but they will learn from this happening.

Very true, they think that these scam investments will turn themselves into a rich guy overnight because they're gullible.

As much as possible trust no one especially in crypto, there are people who will truly find way to get money from others, we must study what we are getting into and as much as possible join or put money only in those projects or platforms that already proved something. But well thats how risky crypto is , many been there and already learned their lessons on not to join in some ponzi schemes but still able to recover from their experience.

They are trying to reduce everything as it was repeatedly before this case to a hacker attack, so the lawyer representing the interests of the brothers Amir and Reis Keiji represents this fraud in an interview with the BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57582805

A little update on this scam, so recently the South African police began (for a long time they were going to do this) investigating criminal cases initiated after the appeal of investors of the bankrupt cryptocurrency platform Africrypt. The plaintiffs are seeking fraud charges and the arrest of the founders of Africrypt, brothers Amir and Reis Keiji.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-11/crypto-losses-probed-by-south-african-cops-after-brothers-vanish