Six people (6) accused of being bogus pension investment scammers, were arrested by the police this week, in Gauteng.
Twenty-five (25) related call-centre agents, were also arrested along with the six.
Police said they were arrested for contravening the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS Act) 37 of 2002.
The suspects, are between the ages of 38 and 61.
They allegedly advertised bogus investment opportunities on social-media platforms, targeting victims.
The suspects allegedly operated fraud “boiler-room” call centres, utilising call-centre agents to communicate with victims online.
Victims were primarily identified in Australia (43), the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and New Zealand.
Victims were initially persuaded to make small online investments, which falsely reflected high returns. Communication between the agents and victims would then continue via platforms such as Skype, Messenger, Zoom and WhatsApp, until victims were convinced to invest larger sums of money.
The syndicates allegedly operated from both Gauteng and the Western Cape.
A joint operation of international policing agencies, on the case, included the Gauteng Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, Hawks’ Priority Crime Specialised Investigation, Hawks’ Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), Gauteng Tactical Response Team (TRT), Hawks Legal Services, Hawks Communication Services, Gauteng Crime Intelligence (CI), Gauteng Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC), SARS Forensic Investigation, INTERPOL, the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), Standard Bank and First National Bank (FNB).
Picture: Supplied