A local resident, who requested to stay anonymous, said that his wife replied to an advertisement for a safety officer at Sibanye Gold, a mine in Randfontein, published in the Middelburg Observer in July.

She received a speedy reply from someone named “Chief” from Sibanye Projects to inform her that she had got the job. She was sent a pre-contract to sign and send back and was supposed to start working in Randfontein in mid-August.

The contract looked legit and was even watermarked.

“Chief” asked the woman about her living arrangements and said that they would be sending her recommendations for safe accommodation in an area often riddled with violent protests. Shortly after, the woman was contacted by someone named Zandi, who claimed to work for Luno Properties.

An agreement was reached and the couple were requested to pay R7 500, one month’s rent as well as a deposit, to an FNB account. The couple did not have the money at the time and had to wait until the end of the month before they could afford it.

The amount was paid via electronic transfers in two instalments of R3 750 each. They were requested to enter a specific reference number, BX1347PDM, with their payments.

Zandi disappeared from the radar shortly after the money was paid. The couple failed to reach her over the phone to finalise arrangements for the handing over of the house keys. They were also blocked on WhatsApp.

On the day agreed upon on the contract, the woman arrived at Sibanye Gold in Gauteng, all kitted up for her first day of work.

They informed her that they carry no knowledge of her or that such a post was ever advertised.

The aggrieved couple realised that they had been scammed and turned to FNB for help. An investigation was done and the man was informed that the bank was able to trace their money to an account, belonging to Luno, that contained millions of rand.

The bank informed him that they could not refund his money because although the money is still in the account, it had been used to buy Bitcoin.

The man went to the Middelburg Police where he opened a case of fraud and is also trying to trace the culprits through a private lawyer.

Luno, a multinational Bitcoin company with their headquarters in Singapore, was contacted and confirmed with www.mobserver.co.za that the bank account the money was paid into, does, in fact, belong to them.

They looked into the matter and Werner van Rooyen, who heads up marketing at the company, confirmed that the couple have been scammed by someone who has a Bitcoin wallet with Luno.

Mr Van Rooyen said that when the funds were paid into Luno’s account with the scammers’ account reference number (the BX1347PDM the couple was asked to use) it enabled the scammers to use the funds to buy Bitcoin and thereafter disappear.

Mr Van Rooyen says that although the fraudsters used the name Luno Properties, it is in no way affiliated with their company. He also said that Luno does not benefit when transactions like the one above is done, and merely facilitate the conversion between Bitcoin and Rand.

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He says that Luno is hard at work to investigate the matter and information at hand revealed that the account with them, was opened with stolen documents, pointing to a possible separate fraud case.

Luno acts as a sort of middleman from where members can buy Bitcoin with common currency like the rand or dollar. Members create a ‘wallet’ where funds are transferred to and from and where Bitcoins can be bought. The wallet is also safe to store your Bitcoin in.

Bitcoin, which has no traditional value like actual money that can be valued in gold, is contained in a code, which can then be moved, or even printed out and stored on physical paper.

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•Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, America’s biggest bank, recently said Bitcoin is a fraudulent cryptocurrency only fit for ‘drug dealers, murderers and people living in places like North Korea’. Dimon said that no business where people can invent currency out of thin air and then claim that people are buying it, is smart.

The person who registered the sibanyeprojects.co.za domain name has been identified. His details have been given to the police as well as the lawyer of the couple.