Two South African brothers have allegedly vanished with bitcoin worth $3.6 billion in client funds after claiming their trading system was hacked.
Johannesburg-based news website Independent Online (IOL) said the brothers, owners of cryptocurrency investment company AfriCrypt, allegedly disappeared with 69,000 bitcoins and are believed to have fled to the United Kingdom. They allegedly told about 20 investors in their company not to tell the police as that would slow the recovery process.
AfriCrypt, a South African investment company, has reportedly defrauded investors of $3.6 billion in Bitcoin funds. The two brothers and founders of the investment platform have now fled the country, Bloomberg reported.
The South African police force, Hawks, was alerted after a Cape Town law firm Hanekom Attorneys, hired by investors said they were unable to trace the two brothers. It further told other cryptocurrency exchanges around the world if the brothers try to convert the digital coins to cash.
Africrypt Chief Operating Officer Ameer Cajee, 17, and his brother Raees, 20, had set up Africrypt in 2019 and it provided bumper returns for investors, the report said. The company website was taken down and the publication was unable to reach neither of the brothers through calls.
Reportedly, the signs of trouble started in April when Cajee, the elder brother, said that the company had become a victim of hacking and asked the clients not to report the incident to the authorities claiming it would decelerate the process of recovery of missing funds.
“We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action,” Hanekom Attorneys said in response to emailed questions to the publication. “Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms seven days before the alleged hack.”
“We regret to inform you that due to the recent breach in our system, client accounts, client wallets and nodes were all compromised,” AfriCrypt said in a statement, according to IOL.
“Unfortunately, this has forced Africrypt to halt operations… We urge all clients to please be patient as we attempt to resolve the situation. 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.”
