The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – the Hawks – arrested six alleged investment scammers, along with 25 call-centre agents, as part of a multi-agency operation targeting a transnational fraud syndicate.
The arrests took place on 27 January and relate to alleged contraventions of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, the South African Police Service said in a media statement. The arrests were made in Gauteng, including Bryanston, Randburg, and Centurion.
The suspects, aged between 38 and 61, were arrested during a joint operation involving – among others – several Hawks units, Gauteng Crime Intelligence, South African Revenue Service Forensic Investigation, the Financial Intelligence Centre, the United Kingdom National Crime Agency, the United States Department of Homeland Security, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, Standard Bank, First National Bank, and private investigation company IRS.
INTERPOL deployed a senior representative from its International Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption Directorate under the organisation’s Operation Jackal, which focuses on combating online scams and transnational financial crimes, SAPS said.
The suspects appeared in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court yesterday, facing charges of contravening the FAIS Act. The case was postponed to next week for a bail hearing.
The investigation was initiated in 2022 by the Hawks’ Gauteng Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit following statements provided by 43 victims based in Australia. This enabled the DPCI, in collaboration with INTERPOL and international law-enforcement partners, to mount a co-ordinated operation.
Investigators allege the suspects operated “boiler-room” call centres from Gauteng and the Western Cape, using call-centre agents to communicate with victims online. Victims were targeted through social-media platforms and persuaded to make initial small investments that appeared to yield high returns. Communication then continued via platforms such as Skype, Messenger, Zoom, and WhatsApp, until victims were convinced to invest larger sums of money.
The Hawks further allege the syndicate registered multiple companies to lease premises and open banking facilities, and operations were regularly relocated and company entities changed in an effort to evade detection. Investigators also allege the suspects used professional-looking branding, sophisticated websites with client log-in portals, fabricated marketing material, and false testimonials to create the appearance of legitimate investment platforms.
SAPS said the alleged criminal activities spanned several jurisdictions, with victims primarily identified in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. More than 40 victims have been identified to date. They invested more than R1 billion in what they believed to be legitimate investment opportunities. It is further alleged that some of these funds were used to sustain the operations of the call centres.
Investigations into the matter are ongoing, and further arrests have not been ruled out.
In separate reporting, The Citizen quoted Chad Thomas of IRS as saying that private forensic investigators assisting the probe believe the alleged syndicate may have operated for close to a decade and that the scale of the fraud could be significantly larger than the losses disclosed by law enforcement.
Thomas was further quoted as saying that international estimates suggest the total value of the alleged fraud could exceed R10bn. Thomas also indicated that investigators documented tens of thousands of potential victims in some jurisdictions, including an estimated 20 000 victims in the US, although he noted that not all such cases may ultimately be linked to the South African-based operation.
The workers they don’t know nothing they where happy to be employed please think about it they are innocent 🙏
Nonsense, rubbish!!! They also must be punished hard. The steel our hard earned money. 10 to15 years in jail and all their belongings must be sold to repay poor people who lost their earnings.
Hi,
Is there a direct number or contact information for the Hawks or people investigating fraud and online scams as I am consistently emailed by them and I would like to report them and work along side the Hawks by getting enough information to track and apprehend these criminals?
It might happen that some workers knows nothing, what they know is that the company is legitimate. Imagine working for a popular brand and found out later that is frauding it’s customers, are you guilty too? Be mindful of the innocent.
Sounds that you also benefited financially from these heartless scum….No Mercy
Well.done to saps investigators and interpolation long due to these big time scammed no bail is recommended fr these suspects well done
And the are those on Facebook acting like they are REPOSSESSED cars and want you to deposit certain amount to secure the car you want. Those people can’t give you thier current location. They are a big scammers which need this kind of action. Arresting them. People must also be vigilant. You can’t just deposit monies on something you haven’t seen. Let’s stop been desperate and becoming blind.
Yes congrats to them,but l know theres more victims to internet scam ,these people are so ruthless they pretent even to he God-fearing, to be inlove with you but they intentions is to scoop cash out of you,l hope there’s a link where info can be left for those victims that’s scared to be revealed
I have also been a victim of such international fraud syndicates based in the US and China. When will our cases be investigated? We’ve been victims since 2023
Good they
Please let the hawk look into the ETH
They have even demanding funds
They have been involve too. Iam a victim of scam and are still been in it
That’s way before 2023′ we really need to be careful.
Please have someone contact me, as I believe I fell victim to this scam, or if it’s not the same one, then I have details of another one.
People like that should be left on a stranded island with venemous snakes & forgotten about as they have no remorse on the poor & the impact they cause in people’s lives.
Well done SAPS investigate Basadi possible scheme as well
Best idea
I am also a victim of this online scam crypto trading. I lost a lot of money. I was scammed by a lady called “”Brenda” She promised me huge returns but I got nothing instead she demanded more.I wish they all rot in jail
How do I get hold of the Hawks that are involved in this case. I know a company who’s doing this kind of fraud and they need to also be caught. Id really appreciate,your help
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/contactus.php
Can you please assist us by sending to this group those people you said you know them so that we will be able to hand over to our investigators
Thank you
I was also scammed big time in 2020
I was also scammed by a company called JSE Stocks, operating in S.A, selling false shares to people.
I never got my money back.
Thank God they are arrested, I got scammed by binary options which turned to be Plustocks a lot of money. When I wanted to withdraw my money they bought stock without my authorisation, so I ended up losing everything, Abby was the contact person
Hi. I was also scammed with Tiger Agriculture. Please assist. Thanks
I was also one that got scammed with this nonsense as a pensioner I got taken for a lot of my hard earned money. I would love to give you more names and contact details
Was scammed by NBSG lot of money amounted to R65000
I’m interested to know country of origin of these suspects
The usual culprits – Nigerians best at Scam 419
I was also hacked on 31 december, they took my R3700, 00,just imagine now I’m broke, i can’t pay my university fees, let them rot to jail forever, people must enjoy their salaries
These days you can’t be more careful. I was scammed posing as employees of Capitec bank. I did everything going to police station and bank believing that that something will come out but I lost hope 😔
I was scammed by Dianah White in 2025.I will send company, and numbers soon.
She used this number +447414 508643 . She call her self Dianne White.
Hallo all – did any person here come across a person by the b
Nae Hayden Boris, Charlotte Tobler or Harry Michael
There was one called expresssure and I believe it is linked to these guys. We opened cases in various police stations but no feedback. There was also a woman who called herself Hazel. These people are not workers and they are part of these criminals. They scammed a lot of people in south Africa and disappeared and deleted their website. Look into this as well when investigating this case.
I was scammed by Nedbank, payment stolen and went into a Nedbank account. They offered me 30c in the rand. I’m still not understanding. Their customer their due diligence. Internal fraud and they are protecting their own people.
Open cases at the police or directly with the HAWKS. This is a media trail.
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/
Good working days, keep it up.
I am very much happy for this arrests. I am a victim of such. I know I won’t get my money back but all perpetrators must face a long jail term. They must rot in there. Thanks very much the police for this breakthrough.
I was scammed alot of money even now I’m under Debt review because of those scammers,they must be punished and pay back our lost money
I was scammed by R1.25 million in November 2025. I was in the process of paying for a balance of a small step down flat to the conveyancer when I received a second statement of account on the conveyances letter head setting out the statement and I used their details in paying for this account. When the money did not appear in the conveyances account on the Monday alarm bells rang and we discovered that I had been scammed by the scammers changing the bank account number to which I deposited the funds. By now the account had been emptied. I opened a case with the SAP and have heard nothing further on the case. The Fraud took place at Absa Bank on the 6 November 2025. I suspect that both mweb and Absa Bank are involved. Very distressing for an 84 year old pensioner.
I was one of thousands of poeple who was scammed trhough a investing scam called ACACIA GOLD ,the runner of this app was apparantly a woman called monica claimed to be in america , in 2025 they have scammed thousands of rands out of poeple in port elizabeth ,western cape and alot of other areas in south africa
I was scammed by this People over R50000
How do I contact the Hawks. I have been scammed. The date 2022 sounds that I could 💯 1 of the victims. I have details of phone nrs and banking account details.
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/contactus.php
I lost a huge amount through these scammers. i do have some account numbers and names should the investigating officers need them.
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/
https://www.saps.gov.za/dpci/contactus.php
Beware the banking Antichrists. Some of them have scams run by their own people from within. Their Fraud Departments are the biggest Skelms.
I have been scammed in online investment where LeeAnn from SABC need were used to attract us.
2022 and they disappeared in 2024.
I did not have a clue what and where to go.