TechFlow reports that on July 13, according to Bitcoin.com, Cape Town Mayor Hill-Lewis jointly launched a nighttime special operation with the Metropolitan Police Department, seizing multiple luxury vehicles using forged or unregistered license plates, with drivers all claiming to be cryptocurrency and forex "traders". Among them was a Mercedes-AMG GLE valued at over $153,000 (approximately 2.5 million South African rand), which had been fraudulently registered as a white BMW. Authorities pointed out that such "financial influencers" habitually flaunt wealth with luxury cars on social media platforms like TikTok to deceive victims into investing in fraudulent platforms.
A report released previously in March identified Cape Town and Johannesburg as hubs for organized crypto scams, where criminal groups perpetrate fraud using technologies such as deepfakes and cloned apps, and illicit funds are laundered through crypto wallets and physical assets. To address increasingly complex financial crimes, the Mayor has established an independent Metropolitan Police Detective Unit, bypassing the under-resourced national police system to operate independently.
