South African brothers, Ameer Cajee, 17, and Raees Cajee, 20, have reportedly disappeared with Bitcoin worth $3.6 billion.
The duo ran a cryptocurrency investment platform, Africrypt, but went off the radar the period Bitcoin’s value surged.
The missing 69,000 coins, worth nearly $4 billion as at April, may be the biggest cryptocurrency fraud ever in history.
A law firm hired by investors announced they have been unable to reach the brothers. The case is being handled by the Hawks, a unit of the Police.
Crypto exchanges across the world have been put on alert to block any attempt to convert the stolen digital coins.
In April, as the profit of Bitcoin rose, Africrypt Chief Operating Officer Ameer Cajee informed clients that the company suffered a cyber attack.
Ameer cautioned them against reporting the incident to legal advisors and authorities to avoid slowing down the recovery process of their investment.
But some engaged Cape Town firm, Hanekom Attorneys to commence liquidation proceedings against Africrypt.
“We were immediately suspicious as the announcement implored investors not to take legal action,” Hanekom Attorneys told Bloomberg.
The lawyers added that Africrypt employees lost access to the back-end platforms one week before the alleged hack.
Ameer and Raees established Africrypt in 2019 and promised juicy returns. In 2020, another South African Bitcoin trader, Mirror Trading International collapsed with 23,000 digital coins worth $1.2 billion.
