Cape Town Police Seize $153K Mercedes-AMG Over Crypto Fraud Scam, Fake License Plates

According to Bitcoin.com, Cape Town authorities and the Metropolitan Police conducted a recent overnight operation seizing multiple luxury vehicles with forged or unregistered license plates, whose drivers claimed to be cryptocurrency and forex traders. Among the confiscated vehicles was a Mercedes-AMG GLE valued at $153,000, fraudulently registered as a white BMW. Authorities noted that such "financial influencers" use luxury cars to display wealth on TikTok and other social media, luring victims into fraudulent trading platforms.

The operation targets organized crypto scams using deepfake technology, cloned apps, and cryptocurrency wallets to launder proceeds. City officials have established an independent Metropolitan Police detective unit to combat increasingly sophisticated financial crime independent of the resource-constrained national police system.