AFU SECURES FORFEITURE ORDER AND RECOVERS R1.7 MILLION FOR VICTIM OF ALLEGED INVESTMENT SCAM

The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Eastern Cape Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has secured a forfeiture order for funds linked to an alleged investment scam in which Mr Luigi Bobbs lost approximately R1.7 million.

 Following the forfeiture proceedings, Mr Bobbs has been fully reimbursed.

An individual contacted Mr Bobbs and presented himself as a senior financial adviser and investment account manager.

 The individual persuaded him to make an initial investment of approximately R4,000 in an opportunity purportedly linked to the London Stock Exchange.

Mr Bobbs was then instructed to download several applications, including AnyDesk, Binance and LSE, and to provide a PIN. 

These applications and instructions are suspected to have enabled unauthorised access to his bank accounts.

Shortly afterwards, unauthorised transactions were made from Mr Bobbs’s Standard Bank and Absa accounts. These included a payment of R69,000 from his Standard Bank account and several transfers totalling R1.6 million from his Absa account.

He was later told that his investment had generated substantial profits, but that he needed to verify his Absa account before the funds could be released. This was allegedly part of the scheme used to deceive him and facilitate further unauthorised transactions.

The matter was reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and referred to the Eastern Cape AFU. Working with SAPS, the AFU enlisted the assistance of the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) to trace the funds. The investigation established that money from Mr Bobbs’s accounts had been transferred to an account held by Billionaire Industries (Pty) Ltd and then to an account held by Papzeedo Trading (Pty) Ltd.

The FIC’s financial analysis played a crucial role in tracing the funds and identifying the accounts through which they passed. A temporary hold was placed on the targeted account in terms of section 34 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001. A court order confirmed the hold on 27 August 2026.

Further investigations revealed similarities between this matter and several other reported cases involving alleged investment scams linked to Papzeedo Trading (Pty) Ltd in different parts of the country. In those cases, victims were reportedly enticed by investment opportunities requiring relatively small initial deposits and then persuaded to download remote-access applications.

 Substantial unauthorised withdrawals were subsequently made from their bank accounts.

Investigators traced funds in several of these matters to accounts associated with the same entities, indicating a recurring modus operandi.

The forfeiture order disrupts the flow of suspected proceeds of crime and enables the recovery of funds for victims. Mr Bobbs’s reimbursement demonstrates the value of collaboration between the Eastern Cape AFU, SAPS, the FIC and other stakeholders in tracing assets, pursuing civil forfeiture proceedings and recovering losses suffered by victims of financial crime.

Issued by:

Luxolo Tyali

NPA Regional Spokesperson: Eastern Cape Division