Last week the Department of Justice announced the launch of the remission compensation process to provide recovery to victims of AirBit Club, a purported virtual currency mining and trading company that was a pyramid scheme.
Beginning in late 2015, promoters marketed AirBit Club as a multilevel marketing club. Promoters promised victims that AirBit Club memberships earned passive, guaranteed daily returns on virtual currency mining and trading, and hosted lavish expos and small community presentations aimed at convincing victims to purchase AirBit Club memberships and further promote the scheme. While victims saw “profits” accumulate on their online portal, those representations were false; no virtual currency mining or trading took place.
In August 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced charges against five defendants, including the AirBit…
THE ISUZU MOTORS PAYROLL FRAUD (GQEBERHA, SA)
Date: February 16, 2026 Perpetrator: Natasja Slabbert (42)
Case Description: In a case that hit home for the Eastern Cape business community, Natasja Slabbert, a payroll administrator at Isuzu Motors South Africa’s Struandale plant, was arrested for an alleged R10.5 million fraud. The scheme, which began surfacing in late 2024, exploited the very systems designed to manage employee compensation. Slabbert allegedly manipulated payroll records to create false entries that appeared as legitimate deductions and contributions on employee payslips. In reality, these “deductions” were being diverted into her personal bank account.
The fraud was only uncovered after diligent employees noticed that their net “take-home” pay was significantly lower than expected, despite the gross amounts on their payslips remaining high. Following a thorough probe by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and the NPA’s Specialised Commercial Crime Unit, it was discovered that in August 2024 alone, over R626,000 was unlawfully transferred. Slabbert was granted bail of R5,000 on February 17, 2026, and the case has been postponed to later in the month for further legal proceedings. This case highlights the critical need for “segregation of duties” in payroll departments, as a single point of failure allowed for the systematic siphoning of millions over nearly two years.
Link to Original: PE Express – Isuzu Payroll Fraud