Cape Town police seize $153,000 Mercedes in fake-plate trader crackdown
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said luxury cars with fake registrations are often used by self-described crypto and forex traders as status symbols, as broader concerns grow over organized scam syndicates in South Africa.
Cape Town police seized a silver Mercedes-AMG GLE worth more than $153,000 during a nighttime operation joined by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, as officers targeted self-described crypto and forex traders driving luxury vehicles with fake or no registration plates. The vehicle had been falsely registered as a white BMW, and police also arrested the driver of an unregistered BMW 3-Series. Hill-Lewis said such cars are often used by "finfluencers" to project wealth and lure victims into fraudulent investment schemes, and said the seized vehicles would face further criminal investigation. The operation comes amid wider concern over organized cryptocurrency fraud in South Africa after a March report said corporate-style scam centers run by international syndicates had established clusters in Cape Town and Johannesburg, using tools including deepfakes, cloned applications and fake investment platforms while laundering proceeds through cryptocurrency wallets, money mules and physical assets.
- forex: Foreign exchange currency trading market.
- deepfakes: AI-generated audio, video or images designed to convincingly imitate real people or events.
- money mules: People used to move or transfer illicit funds on behalf of criminals, often to obscure the money trail.