A Cryptocurrency Investment Firm was hacked and its owners were forced to cease operations. Now there is no trace of the two brothers running the firm.
These days cryptocurrencies have scattered the market. Meanwhile, a surprising case has come to the fore. Africrypt Global, a cryptocurrency investment firm in South Africa, has come under scrutiny. Africrypt, was being run by two brothers CEO Raees Qazi and COO Amir Qazi. $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin worth about Rs 26,700 crore (as of 3:16 pm on June 25, one bitcoin in India was worth Rs 25.51 lakh) has disappeared from Africrypt.
What is even more shocking is that there is no trace of the two brothers running the firm, which included celebrity investors. It all started two months ago when Kazi Brothers claimed that the firm had been hacked and hence they were forced to cease operations. The brothers then asked cryptocurrency investors not to alert the police about the matter, as doing so could jeopardize the recovery of the company’s stolen $3.6 billion of digital coins. The company’s website is also not operational.
According to a Bloomberg report, calls to both the brothers are being forwarded over voicemail. A group of about 20 people has hired a law firm and courts in South Africa have ordered provisional liquidation of a company that started two years ago and initially gave huge returns.
According to The Register’s report, 21-year-old Rais and 17-year-old Amir are nowhere to be found but they have time till July to appeal against the order. Investors were last contacted by Kazi Brothers on April 13. He said he did not know that customer information was compromised in the “cyber attack”. However, they promised that they would inform everyone if they were able to retrieve any “stolen money and compromised information”.
Qazi Brothers’ sister is being questioned
Meanwhile, Zakira Lahar, a cousin of the Qazi Brothers and a former fellow director at Africrypt, has to deal with a flurry of phone calls from the media and the police to investors. According to Business Insider, she says she fears for the safety of her family, which includes a one-week-old baby. Regarding his position in the firm, Zakira says that his involvement was peripheral and did not make any money from Africrypt.
South Africa’s Finance Sector Conduct Authority is conducting a proper investigation into how big a scam it is, but they too are facing legal hurdles. Enforcement Head Brandon Topham said cryptocurrency assets are not legally considered finance products in South Africa.
