Amabhungane Scam Empire Part 3: Money In, Money Out

In our previous instalments, we revealed a massive international syndicate operating online trading platform 'scams' and the characters running a distinct South African division hiding in plain sight behind the country's regulatory regime. Now we turn to the money, specifically the byzantine financial arrangements set up to collect and disperse would-be 'traders' investments.

This investigation is based on a large leak of data originally provided to Sveriges Television, the Swedish national broadcaster, to which amaBhungane has gained access as part of a global consortium of media organisations coordinated by the OCCRP .

In Parts One and Two , we introduced the international syndicate running over 70 suspected fraudulent online trading platforms worldwide, as well as a special 'regulated' South African division making use of real financial service provider licences.

Despite the veneer of legitimacy provided by these licences we saw how thousands of people invested millions of rands and, nearly always losing all of it after being misled and harassed into disastrous and possibly fictitious investments.