South African Forex Scammers get sentenced twenty years after crime

Two South African Forex scammers were convicted after twenty years of investigations and court proceedings during the case. According to News24, the brothers Peter and Louis Henderson, are responsible for scamming over R 6.2 million ($437,170) to investors.

The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Peter and Louis to 15 years imprisonment and 12 years respectively after being found guilty of committing fraud to about R 4.6 million, theft of around R 1.6 million, and an infringement of the Banks Act of 1990. The media outlet detailed that such crimes were committed between 2002 and 2003.

The investigation revealed that the brothers set up a bogus firm in Durban named Forex International, claiming they could offer returns on their investments, which were also allegedly guaranteed. Instead, the scammers stole R 1.6 million and used the funds for their own benefit after diverting the money to offshore bank accounts. The South African Central Bank led the investigation, which cracked down the scam after collecting evidence from almost 18 victims.

In fact, five of the 15 years imprisonment imposed on Peter is because of failing to comply with a reserve bank instruction, News24 noted.

Indian Forex Scam Dismantled

In March, Finance Magnates reported that Indian police arrested two people in connection with a massive forex scam which has raked in Rs 12 crore (roughly $1.7 million) from 70,000 victims. The Central Crime Branch identified the suspects believed to be the masterminds as Syed Abu Thahir from Teynampet and Syed Ali Hussain from Chidambaram.

Cybercrime police said the duo, aged 34 and 41, have duped their victims from all over the country using two websites, deltinfx.com and deltininternationalsolutions.com. The foreign exchange scam was running for at least one year since 2019. The defendants allegedly lured investors into investing in their supposedly high-returning FX trading scheme, promising huge returns quickly. However, the money invested was eventually routed to Thahir and Ali Hussain’s bank accounts rather than trade.