Morita Forestry Pyramid Scheme Defrauds South Africans of Hundreds of Millions of Rands

Morita Forestry, a company with an office in Sandton, an address in Colorado and operations traced to China, ran a pyramid scheme promising daily payouts from alleged US woodland projects. The scheme was promoted across South Africa by social‑media influencers and its local director, Puleng Violet Phakisi. Government officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the South African Police Service took part in trainings and tree‑planting events, giving the operation an appearance of legitimacy.

By late July the scheme collapsed: withdrawals stopped after 24 July and the platform, which had over 385,000 registered accounts, ceased paying out. Victims reported losses amounting to hundreds of millions of rands and expressed severe distress, with several posts mentioning suicidal thoughts and two alleged suicides. A cryptocurrency wallet linked to the fraud holds large sums of money, and investigators have traced the operation back to a Chinese syndicate.

The scandal has prompted public outcry over influencer‑driven fraud, the role of officials in legitimising the scheme, and the mental‑health impact on thousands of South Africans who were duped.