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Scammers are using increasingly sophisticated tactics – including remote access, stolen personal data, and sexual extortion.
The account from the former Banxso client reveals the full extent of how manipulative and predatory these fraudsters have become. Picture: AdobeStock
The underworld of financial scammers is becoming increasingly sophisticated – and far more aggressive. In some cases, they have resorted to extortion, including threats to distribute nude images of victims to force them into withdrawing criminal complaints.
Since early last year, Moneyweb has uncovered how Banxso, licensed by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), benefited directly from a wave of fraudulent social media advertisements. These ads falsely featured celebrity billionaires such as Elon Musk, Johann Rupert and Patrice Motsepe promoting investment products that promised extraordinary monthly returns of up to R500 000 from initial investments as low as R4 700.
Despite Banxso’s repeated vehement denials of any links with the ads, the FSCA provisionally suspended its licence in October last year.
However, shortly thereafter, a new and more insidious scam surfaced.
Posing as officials from regulators like the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), fraudsters began contacting Banxso victims with a pitch: the money they lost had been invested in cryptocurrency. The funds, they claimed, had also grown significantly due to the recent surge in cryptocurrency prices.
They offered refunds subject to a “processing fee” or commission.
The FSCA issued a warning regarding this scam early this year. Banxso denied any links to this scam.
The refund scam is highly professional and personalised, as the fraudsters have personal information that the victims believe could only have come from their Banxso profiles.
Moneyweb has received numerous inquiries from former Banxso victims asking whether this refund offer is legitimate, indicating how believable the approach is. However, a recent account from a former Banxso client reveals the full extent of how sophisticated, manipulative, and predatory these fraudsters have become.
ALSO READ: New scam targets Banxso victims using their personal data
The former Banxso client contacted Moneyweb and provided an alarming account of how her interaction with the “refund” scammers led to more than R200 000 being stolen from her bank account.
When she later laid a criminal charge, the scammers threatened to distribute sexual images of her to colleagues and on social media unless she withdrew the complaint.
The individual has asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, but came forward to warn others about how professional, dangerous and manipulative these scammers have become. She holds a senior position at a prominent South African institution. Let’s call her Maria.
In her conversations with Moneyweb, Maria repeatedly described herself as “stupid”, “naive” and “ashamed” for falling for the scam. But she chose to speak out, hoping her experience would warn others.
ALSO READ: The FIC busts Banxso
Maria’s nightmare began when she responded to a fake advertisement and became a Banxso client. However, after losing some money, she realised the platform was extremely risky and closed the account.
Then, in December last year, she received a call from someone claiming to be a “representative” of the British financial regulator, the FCA. He alleged a third party “stole money from her Banxso account” and used it to trade in cryptocurrency, earning a profit of $200 000, or approximately R7.5 million, which they wanted to refund to her.
She investigated and confirmed on the official FCA website that the “representative” was indeed employed by the regulator.
(The FCA has repeatedly warned the public that its and its employees’ identities are used in scams.)
Maria also stated that the supporting documentation sent to her was very professional and seemed legitimate.
The scammer said she had to pay 6% of the funds due to her into a cryptocurrency account in her own name, allegedly to “put the money into circulation”. This amounted to R120 000.
Maria opened a Binance account and was instructed to transfer the R120 000 into this account.
“My bank didn’t allow me to transfer more than R10 000 per day to the Binance account, so it was tedious,” she said.
After paying R40 000, the scammers instructed her to pay the balance into an Absa account of an individual unknown to her.
“I baulked at this, not wanting to pay a random person who could just disappear with my money,” she explained. The scammers then said that the Absa account holder was a pastor who worked with them and would assist in putting the money “into circulation”.
Maria then paid the balance into the Absa account. Only afterwards did she realise the R40 000 she had transferred to her Binance account was never reflected.
“It disappeared into thin air,” she said.
ALSO READ: Banxso continues to take money despite banks freezing its accounts
The scammers then instructed Maria to download the Exodus app, a crypto trading platform, and log into an account already opened in her name. This account showed a balance of more than $200 000 in cryptocurrency due to her.
However, the scammers wanted to use a different bank account due to the security measures of her primary bank.
Maria had an account with another bank and, on request, allowed the scammers to remotely access her computer via AnyDesk (software that allows a third party to take control of a computer remotely) to assist with linking the account to her Binance wallet.
“It wasn’t minutes after I’d done that when two payments went off from my account – totalling more than R200 000. I never had to authorise the payments on my banking app, and the amounts were far above my daily banking limit.” (The bank investigated and determined that the ‘pay and clear’ function was used, where the limit is R250 000.)
Maria immediately reported the fraud to the bank and opened a criminal case with the police.
Despite this, the scammers continued contacting her and claimed they were “working” on finalising the refund.
“Suddenly, they asked if the email I used for Banxso was the same as the one I used for Binance. I said yes, and they berated me endlessly – saying the transfer failed because I had used the same email address.”
Next came a demand for an additional $3 000 to cover the costs of a so-called “recovery team” if she “ever wanted to see her money again”.
Maria refused. “I told them I had less than R1 000 left in my bank account – which was true – and I couldn’t pay anything.”
ALSO READ: Banxso agents allegedly mislead clients on licence status
That’s when the situation spiralled out of control.
Another scammer, a man, then contacted Maria and offered to pay the $3 000 on her behalf – but demanded something in return. “He said he wanted an hour of my time. He told me he had a crush on me and wanted to see me. I refused.”
After a few days, the man repeated his offer: he would pay the money if Maria agreed to speak to him for an hour on the phone. Reluctantly, she agreed – and he initiated a video call.
“We didn’t speak long before he asked me to remove my clothes. I was, of course, reluctant. I’m a decent person – I wouldn’t even send a boyfriend a naked photo of myself. But I was in too deep. I needed my money back. I showed him glimpses, careful never to show my face and body simultaneously … He took screenshots of my face and body and used them to blackmail me later.”
ALSO READ: FSCA warns consumers about investments with these unregistered entities
Following this interaction, R70 000 was paid into Maria’s bank account. Shortly afterwards, another scammer phoned her and offered to help put the money into “circulation” – but the attempt failed as her bank froze her account due to a “fraudulent transaction”.
The next day, a man – referred to here as James – contacted Maria and claimed the R70 000 had been transferred from his account. He said he had reported the transaction to the bank, which triggered the suspension of her account. Maria later refunded James.
Despite this, the fraudsters continued to contact her, repeatedly asking whether her bank account was still frozen.
“I then made the mistake of telling them I opened a case with the police regarding my missing money,” she said.
ALSO READ: FSCA investigates Banxso agents’ claims that it ‘has been cleared’
Then all hell broke loose. The video-call man sent nude images to Maria from screenshots he took during their previous interaction. He threatened to distribute them to her colleagues unless she withdrew the criminal case.
“It was a Friday when I phoned the detective unit at the police station to withdraw the case. They told me the detective was unavailable and to come in the following Monday.”
Later that same Friday, the scammers called again, threatening consequences if she didn’t drop the case.
“I told them I had already spoken to the police and would go in on Monday. But they kept yelling, demanding that I withdraw immediately.”
The video-call man also phoned again and insisted Maria remove her shirt. “At that stage, I lost it and told him to do whatever he wanted and ended the call,” she said.
Maria withdrew the criminal complaint and never heard from the scammers again – and the nude images were never disseminated.
However, she lost more than R200 000.
ALSO READ: Banxso victim launches liquidation application
In response to detailed questions from Moneyweb regarding how the scammers came into possession of the victim’s Banxso account details, Hanekom Attorneys, acting on behalf of Banxso, denied any wrongdoing and rejected all suggestions that client information was leaked or accessed by unauthorised parties.
“Our client has not sold, shared, or otherwise disseminated client data to unauthorised third parties. Any suggestion to the contrary is false and defamatory. Further, our client has not experienced any confirmed data breach to date and has, moreover, proactively investigated all credible security concerns raised either internally or externally. These investigations have yielded no findings that suggest any compromise or misconduct on the part of our client. Our client will not, in any event, disclose confidential investigative findings to individuals who have consistently demonstrated a disregard for responsible journalistic standards,” the letter reads.
The letter also criticised Moneyweb’s reporting: “It is both ironic and deeply concerning that you now express concern over scams targeting former clients, particularly when your own repeated publication of unfounded claims, speculation, and inflammatory narratives has directly contributed to the climate of fear and distrust that such scammers exploit.”
Read the full response here.
Banxso and several related entities and individuals have instituted legal action against Moneyweb and this author.
These include Banxso owner and director Harel Sekler, former Banxso director Warwick Sneider, AfriMarkets, and former Banc de Binary CEO Oren Shabat Laurent
Moneyweb is defending the claims.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
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