Cape Town cracks down on crypto fraud, police seize luxury cars with fake license plates

Odaily News: Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently participated in a special nighttime police operation targeting individuals who claim to be cryptocurrency and forex traders while driving luxury cars with fake or no license plates. During the operation, police seized a silver Mercedes-AMG GLE, falsely registered as a white BMW, valued at over $153,000, and arrested a driver of an unregistered BMW 3-Series. Local officials stated that fraudulent crypto gangs use TikTok to showcase assets and exploit luxury cars as status symbols to lure victims into fake investments. A report released in March indicates that corporate scam centers operated by international crime syndicates have formed clusters in Cape Town and Johannesburg, utilizing deepfakes, cloned apps, and fake investment platforms to commit fraud. Related illegal funds are typically laundered through cryptocurrency wallets, money mules, and physical assets such as unlicensed high-end vehicles (Bitcoin.com News).