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We are fully committed to cooperating with authorities and facilitating the return of funds to affected parties through our comprehensive track and trace process. In addition, we would like to encourage the victims to seek further assistance from their respective banks. – Capitec Bank

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A 26-year-old man whose Capitec account was used as conduit for funds of a bogus cryptocurrency has been exposed for lying that he reported theft of his bank details at the bank.  

Sandile Unruly Matsheke (26) told The People’s Eye last month that he reported to the bank after he was mugged at gunpoint and his bank details stolen.

His account was used by Theapool to receive funds from investors. Theapool ran a bogus cryptocurrency scam that cost many investors their hard-earned cash believed to be in millions of rands from late 2023 until January this year.

When approached via Facebook inbox, Matsheke sent The People’s Eye an illegible police affidavit claiming that he reported his robbery to the police and the bank. He claimed that he did not own a phone.

Matsheke said: “To tell you the truth, bro, I don't even know what that is (Theapool). I lost my card last year. Actually, I was robbed at gun point by one Chinese and two black guys. They asked me to get inside their car, then they took my phone and wallet. They asked for my pin and I gave them.”

He said that he reported the incident to Capitec bank and closed the account. Matsheke is believed to be staying in the Western Cape, Ward 33 (Weltevreden Valley North) at 5926 Coline William Street.

The bank denied Matsheke’s version in a statement this week and confirmed that the picked up potential fraudulent activity associated with his account. Capitec Bank promised to investigate and trace the funds.

Capitec said: “There are indications of potentially fraudulent activity associated with Mr Matsheke’s account, internally and from other banks. Capitec has taken immediate steps to track and trace any related funds.

Notably, we have no record that Mr Matsheke contacted us to report the incident or to close the account. All ongoing investigations are centred around the flagged activity.”

The bank said that sympathised with any affected victims of Theapool fraud and advised them to open cases with the police for a prompt investigation.

“We are fully committed to cooperating with authorities and facilitating the return of funds to affected parties through our comprehensive track and trace process.
In addition, we would like to encourage the victims to seek further assistance from their respective banks.”

The bank’s statement revealing that he did not report the incident, put Matsheke right on the crime scene as a suspect.

Theapool sold virtual mining machines at prices ranging from R330 to R110 000. Investors needed to download an app on their cellphone and start their machines at a particular time every day to mine cryptocurrency day and night with promises of huge profits after 100 or so days. Theapool promised investors a 500% return after 100 days on their investments.

A $160 (R3520) machine, for example, could generate you R17 600. These returns appeared too good to be true but people keen to make a quick buck were hooked. 

Investors realised around January 20 that something was amiss when they could not make withdrawals or receive profits that they were promised.

At that time TheaPool had introduced new machines, which promised investors massive profits in five days. The investors rushed to buy them in numbers and, to their surprise, Theapool deactivated its app, apparently after achieving its targets.

TheaPool lured investors with claims that it was properly registered both in both Singapore (its headquarters) and South Africa. They even provided fake registration documents on a WhatsApp group that The People’s Eye had seen.

According to a 2023 research by Sumsub, a transaction monitoring and verification services provider, South Africa experienced a 25% surge in fraud cases pertaining to the crypto-currency sector during the last quarter of the year. The research focused on fraud trends that emerged during the first half of 2023, based on an analysis across South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria. It found that Africa’s rapidly-evolving digital landscape a double-edged sword as it opened new doors for innovation, but also become a hotbed for evolving fraud tactics.