• New reports suggest that “Crypto Queen” Ruja Ignatova, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, could be living in Cape Town.
• The United States government is offering an international reward of $5 million (R90 million) for any information that could lead to her arrest.
• Ignatova may have had plastic surgery to change her appearance and she is likely travelling with armed guards.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5 million – that’s 90 million big ones (ZAR) – for information that could lead to the arrest of Ruja Ignatova, one of the most wanted fugitives in the world, for stealing $4 billion from unsuspecting cryptocurrency enthusiasts through her Onecoin scam.

And get this: new reports state that she could be living in Cape Town right now.

“Ruja Ignatova is wanted for her alleged participation in a large-scale fraud scheme. Beginning in approximately 2014, Ignatova and others are alleged to have defrauded billions of dollars from investors all over the world. Ignatova was the founder of OneCoin Ltd., a Bulgaria-based company that marketed a purported cryptocurrency,” the FBI explain in Ignatova’s wanted poster (PDF).

They add that Ignatova has likely had plastic surgery to alter her physical appearance and that she is travelling with armed guards so don’t try anything stupid if you spot someone suspicious dining at the V&A.

German police confirmed to Daily Maverick last week that they are following leads that Ignatova could be living in South Africa. This was after initial rumours that she was living in Dubai or that she was killed at sea in 2018.

In 2023, a group of four Bulgarian nationals – two men and two women – which included wanted fugitive Krasimir Kamenov and his wife and supposedly two of their employees were fatally shot in their home in the affluent Constancia suburb of Cape Town.

There is a potential that Ignatova was among the deceased but this was not confirmed and the FBI’s wanted poster is still up.

If Ignatova is alive and is indeed living in Cape Town, she is probably living a very luxurious, if low-profile life. Her Onecoin scam allegedly sold fake crypto tokens to enthusiasts around the world. She dumped significant investments into marketing the scam internationally, including conferences where she espoused the benefits of Onecoin as in the video below.

“She allegedly instructed victims to transmit investment funds to OneCoin accounts in order to purchase OneCoin packages, causing victims to send wire transfers representing these investments,” the FBI adds.

After victims sent millions to Ignatova and her scam, they never received the tokens that supposedly would make them even richer. A regular FTX even before Sam Bankman-Fried.

If you do know anything about the whereabouts of the wanted crypto queen, locally or otherwise, you can submit an anonymous tip here. And don’t worry, it’s the United States Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program that is offering the reward so even South Africans can join in.