The suspects, aged 38 to 61, were arrested in a joint operation involving the Gauteng Hawks, SARS Forensic Investigation, INTERPOL, SABRIC, Standard Bank, and FNB. INTERPOL participated under its global Operation JACKAL, deploying a senior representative from its Financial Crimes Directorate.
The investigation began in 2022 after statements from forty-three Australian victims. The syndicates allegedly used social media to target near-retirement victims with substantial savings, advertising bogus investments.
Agents operated from “boiler-room” call centres, first soliciting small online investments with falsified high returns. They then used platforms like Skype, Messenger, Zoom, and WhatsApp to persuade victims to invest larger sums.
The illegal activities were run from Gauteng and the Western Cape, targeting victims primarily in Australia, the UK, the USA, Canada, and New Zealand.