Brothers Who Stole $3.6 Billion In Bitcoin May Be Hiding In Dubai

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Last Updated on 15 January 2022 by CryptoTips.eu

Jeroen Kok

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Last year, two young South African brothers disappeared without a trace, taking with them 69,000 bitcoins (worth some 3.6 billion dollars). Ameer and Raees Cajee, barely 18 and 21 years old at the time of their disappearance, had set up an investment vehicle called Africrypt.

They let the system collapse via a so-called ‘hack’ and took all the money. According to South African media, their theft is one of the largest bitcoin heists in history. Several victims have recently received a mysterious offer for compensation, coming from an address in Dubai. According to local press, the boys father has been pictured coming out of a luxury hotel there.

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Lack of regulation

The fact that it took so long to open an investigation may be due to the lack of regulation for cryptocurrencies as a financial product. This has prompted regulators in South Africa to take action in 2022 only.

Police in four South African provinces have now launched preliminary investigations. The investigation speaks of “several victims”, but also say that “no official value” has been attached to the fraud and that it is therefore possible that the investigations lead nowhere.

The brothers had sent an email to clients of their investment firm Africrypt back in April of last year, when Bitcoin was trading around $50,000. They claimed their company had been hacked and their online crypto wallets were at risk.

69,000 bitcoins

The customers were asked not to report anything to the authorities. However, complaints were soon made with the police, which revealed that the brothers had disappeared with some 69,000 bitcoins, worth – at the time – a value of 3 billion euros and thus the largest crypto heist of all time.

The brothers went into hiding because they feared for their lives. Recently, several of the Africrypt victims received a mysterious compensation offer from a Dubai-based company called “Pennython Project Management.”

According to South African media, the father of the two brothers was seen in a hotel in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.