Africrypt Founders Ameer and Raees Cajee Vanish with $3.6 Billion in Bitcoin, South Africa's Largest Crypto Fraud
Incident Details
Summary
In April 2021, Africrypt — a South African cryptocurrency investment platform run by brothers Ameer (18) and Raees (21) Cajee — announced it had been hacked, urged investors not to report it to authorities, then disappeared. The platform held approximately 69,000 bitcoins valued at $3.6 billion. Cybersecurity investigators later traced the 'hacker' wallet addresses back to the brothers themselves, confirming it was an exit scam. Employees had lost access to the back-end a week before the alleged hack. In January 2022, investors filed criminal complaints seeking the brothers' arrest. The South African Police Services Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) led the ongoing investigation. The case exposed critical regulatory gaps across Africa's nascent crypto markets.
Related Incidents
News Explorer — Ethereum User Loses $600K in Address Poisoning Scam - Decrypt
An Ethereum user lost $600,000 on February 17, 2024, after falling victim to an address poisoning scam. This crypto scam involved fraudsters sending spam transactions from similar-looking addresses to confuse the user during cryptocurrency transfers. The incident highlights a common method used by scammers to cause significant financial losses for users.
Weekly Blockchain Blog - February 2026 #3 | BakerHostetler - JDSupra
Daren Li, a dual national, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison for laundering more than $73 million obtained through an international cryptocurrency investment scheme. The scam operated from centers in Cambodia. Li had previously pleaded guilty in November 2024 but fled supervision in December 2025. The U.S. Department of Justice announced his sentencing.
WazirX Exchange Hacked for $230 Million by North Korea's Lazarus Group; Indian Customers' Funds Frozen
On July 18, 2024, hackers drained approximately $230 million — nearly half of WazirX's total assets — from the Indian crypto exchange's multi-signature wallet. Blockchain analysts including Elliptic attributed the attack to North Korea's Lazarus Group. WazirX suspended all withdrawals following the hack, freezing funds for millions of Indian users. The exchange filed for restructuring in Singapore and faced lawsuits in India. The hack illustrated the continued vulnerability of centralized exchanges to state-sponsored cryptocurrency theft, and the devastating impact on retail users who keep assets on exchanges.