How to report a crypto scam in South Africa

If you have been scammed with crypto in South Africa, do two things today: open a case at a police station, and publish the wallet addresses the money went to.

The SAPS case starts the criminal investigation. The public record works immediately — the address becomes visible to exchange compliance teams, to investigators, and to the next person about to transfer.

The first hours count for more than everything after them. Write the receiving addresses and transaction hashes down now, while an exchange can still freeze the funds.

What to know first

• You open the case in person at any SAPS police station. Go to the Community Service Centre and do not leave without a CAS number.
• SAPS says on its own website that you cannot report a crime on the SAPS website. There is no national online form for fraud. Crime Stop (08600 10111) and the MySAPS app take tip-offs, not dockets. 10111 is for emergencies in progress.
• Write your statement out at home and bring it with you. A commissioned SAPS officer is a commissioner of oaths, so expect to swear to it.
• The Hawks (DPCI) run a Serious Commercial Crime Investigation component, but they are not a walk-in counter for an individual complaint. Your docket reaches them by referral.
• The FSCA does not recover your money. It says outright that it cannot assist with claim disputes and contractual disagreements. Its licence register is the check for before you pay, and here it is a real one — South Africa licenses crypto businesses.

What to do in the first hours

Stop sending money. Almost every victim makes one last payment, because a "release fee" or a "tax clearance" is supposedly all that stands between them and a withdrawal. That money never comes back.

Then, in this order:

1. Copy the destination wallet addresses and the transaction hash (TXID) for every transfer. They are in your wallet or exchange history. This is the most important thing in the docket, and what most statements are missing.
2. Screenshot everything before it disappears. Full WhatsApp and Telegram threads, the profile that approached you, the website, the dashboard showing your imaginary profits. These sites go dark in days.
3. Phone your bank's fraud line if any leg went through a rand account or a card. A recall is sometimes possible, but only while the money sits in the receiving account — hours, not days.
4. Tell the exchange you sent from, with the receiving address and the TXIDs, so compliance can flag it.
5. Go to the police station and open the case.

If a "portfolio manager" had you install AnyDesk or TeamViewer, uninstall it and change your banking passwords.

Where to report

SAPS — open a case at a police station

Go to the Community Service Centre at any police station and say you want to lay a charge of fraud committed online. The officer interviews you, takes your statement, and registers the crime on the Crime Administration System. You leave with a CAS number, usually confirmed by SMS. Keep it — every follow-up for the next year runs off that number. Reporting is free and the paperwork is the officer's job.

Bring your ID and your evidence, printed and on a flash drive. A statement that says only "I was scammed on the internet" cannot carry an investigation. One that lists four receiving addresses, eight TXIDs with dates and amounts, and a URL can. Ask the officer to note that the case involves cryptocurrency and that you want it investigated as commercial crime.

Do not mistake the tip-off channels for this. Crime Stop on 08600 10111 runs 24 hours for information about criminals; the MySAPS app and the USSD string *134*10111# take anonymous tip-offs and hand back a reference number. None of them opens a docket.

The Hawks (DPCI) — Serious Commercial Crime Investigation

Your docket goes to a detective at that station, and this is where most crypto cases stall: a general caseload is not usually the person who can trace a blockchain. The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, is the SAPS directorate for national priority offences, and Serious Commercial Crime Investigation is the component that handles large-scale investment fraud.

Here is the part nobody tells victims. The only public reporting channel the DPCI publishes is for corruption reports under section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act — not an intake desk for fraud — and even that guidance describes a station officer taking your statement and registering a case before referring you on.

So the realistic route in is a station docket that meets the threshold: multiple victims, a large aggregate loss, an organised scheme. Which makes the most useful thing you can do finding the other victims — Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, the platform's own Telegram channel — and getting each of them to open a case. Ten dockets naming the same wallet address look like a scheme. One looks like a complaint.

Then follow up with your CAS number and ask, in writing, whether the docket has been referred.

What documentation to gather

• Every destination wallet address
• The transaction hash (TXID) for each transfer, with date, time and amount
• Uncropped screenshots of the whole chat history
• Exact URLs of the platform, the profile, the advert and the dashboard
• Bank statements, EFT confirmations and receipts for the crypto you bought
• Names, numbers, emails and handles used to contact you, plus any FSP number displayed
• A timeline: first contact, every payment, the moment withdrawals stopped, last contact

The FSCA register is a check before you pay, not a place to report

Crypto assets became a financial product under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act on 19 October 2022, and the FSCA began licensing crypto asset service providers on 1 June 2023. By 31 March 2026 it had taken 533 applications, approved 310 and declined 17, with another 124 withdrawn once the FSCA questioned the business model. That is what makes the register worth opening: a real crypto business operating here holds an FSP licence, which is not the case in most of Africa.

The FSCA's own instruction is to check three things — that the firm is authorised, what category of advice it is licensed for, and that the FSP number it displays matches the name on the FSCA's database. Cloning a licensee's number is standard. The search is on fsca.co.za under Regulated Entities; the FSCA will confirm a number on 0800 110 443.

Then read Warnings and Alerts, where the FSCA names entities acting without authorisation or impersonating licensed firms. Crypto schemes appear there constantly. The same warnings go out in isiZulu, Setswana, Tshivenda and Afrikaans, so if you are warning a relative who does not read English comfortably, send it in their language. It lands differently.

What the FSCA will not do is get your money back. It says plainly that it cannot assist with claim disputes and contractual disagreements, and points you to an Ombud instead. Reporting an unlicensed platform on fsca.co.za is still worth doing after your CAS number — it produces regulatory action and a warning that protects the next person.

One narrow exception. The statutory Office of the FAIS Ombud, established under section 20 of the FAIS Act, can investigate a complaint against a registered provider that advised you on crypto. It does not reach an anonymous "trader" on WhatsApp or an offshore site with no licence here, which is what most of these schemes are.

Can I get my money back?

Sometimes. A great deal less often than the internet suggests.

It turns on one question: do the funds reach a service with compliance obligations — an exchange, a payment processor — before they are broken up? If they do, and a case is open, there is a route. Through a mixer, almost none.

Nobody can quote you a percentage honestly. Anyone who does, over the phone, having seen not one transaction, is selling you something.

Beware of "fund recovery" offers

A few weeks after the loss, someone offers to recover it. Sometimes they say they are attorneys, sometimes they claim a contact inside the Hawks, at an exchange, or at the FSCA. They want an upfront payment, a "release fee", or remote access to your computer.

It is the same network, or someone who bought the victim list:

• They contacted you
• Money is required before anything happens
• The outcome is guaranteed
• Inside contacts at a police unit or a regulator are claimed

Opening a case at SAPS is free. No government body here asks for an advance payment to return your money.

Why record the address publicly

A criminal case moves at the pace of a criminal case. A public record works the same day.

Post the address, the hash and the website on Chainabuse and that entry is visible to exchange compliance teams, to investigators, and to anyone searching that address before transferring. Chainabuse is free, open to everyone, and groups reports against the same address — so isolated cases become a visible pattern.

Often the person it helps is not you. It is whoever searches that address two weeks from now.

Frequently asked questions

1. Where do I report a crypto scam in South Africa?

At any SAPS police station, in person. Go to the Community Service Centre, lay a charge of fraud, sign your statement, and take down the CAS number. There is no national online form for fraud — the SAPS website says outright that you cannot report a crime on it.

2. Can I report a crypto scam online in South Africa?

Not to SAPS. Crime Stop on 08600 10111, the MySAPS app and the USSD string *134*10111# all take tip-offs, and 10111 is for emergencies, but none of them opens a docket. You have to appear at a station.

3. What must I take to the police station?

Your ID, a written statement, and your evidence printed or on a flash drive: the destination wallet addresses, every TXID with dates and amounts, uncropped chat screenshots, the platform's URL and a timeline.

4. Can the FSCA get my crypto back?

No. It states that it cannot assist with claim disputes or contractual disagreements. It can act against an unlicensed business and publish a warning, but recovery runs through the criminal case.

5. Can I take my case straight to the Hawks?

Not in practice. The only public reporting channel the DPCI publishes is for section 34 PRECCA corruption reports. A crypto fraud is opened at a police station and reaches Serious Commercial Crime Investigation by referral — far likelier where several victims have each filed.

6. How do I check whether a crypto platform is legitimate in South Africa?

Search the FSCA's authorised-firm register on fsca.co.za, then its Warnings and Alerts. The FSCA has licensed over 300 crypto asset service providers, so a legitimate one holds an FSP number. Check the number against the register, not against the platform's website — cloned numbers are routine.

7. Does reporting on Chainabuse replace the police case?

No, do both. The SAPS case opens the criminal investigation. The Chainabuse report makes the wallet address visible to exchanges and investigators anywhere, immediately — which is what gives a freeze its chance.