DAO1 Fraud: FSCA Warning and How to Recover (2026)

South Africa's FSCA has issued a securities fraud warning against DAO1. The scheme, linked to convicted fraudster Josip Heit, has now rebranded as APTM DAO and continues soliciting funds.

By DefendMe Editorial, Intelligence Team · · Hot News

If you invested in DAO1 or its successor APTM DAO and cannot withdraw your funds, you are not alone and you are not at fault. On September 7, 2026, South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a formal securities fraud warning against DAO1, confirming the platform was soliciting investment funds from the public without any authorization to provide financial services. The FSCA also stated it was unable to reach DAO1 using the contact details the platform had provided, a pattern regulators routinely observe when investment schemes begin winding down. What you experienced is consistent with a documented, multi-jurisdictional fraud operation that has already attracted regulatory action across five countries.

How It Works

DAO1 operated as a crypto-focused investment scheme, promoting returns through what it described as automated trading bots. Investors were invited to deposit cryptocurrency in exchange for promised passive income, with an MLM-style recruitment layer that rewarded participants for bringing in new investors. This structure meant early participants were paid primarily from the deposits of newer recruits, a mechanics pattern the FSCA has now formally flagged as unauthorized financial services activity.

The scheme was launched under Apertum Foundation, an entity linked to Josip Heit, who in 2024 settled securities fraud allegations brought by North American regulators over the predecessor scheme GSB Group and GSPartners. Despite that settlement, public regulatory records indicate its terms remained unfulfilled as of September 2026, and over a dozen fraud warnings and enforcement orders across North America remained in effect. DAO1 effectively continued the same investment model under a new brand name.

When DAO1 collapsed in June 2026, Apertum Foundation did not wind down. Instead, it relaunched the same underlying program as APTM DAO, repackaging the investment product with a new name called MinerBot. The ROI calculators used in APTM DAO marketing materials mirror those used for DAO1, and the same network of promoters continued marketing the new product to existing and prospective investors.

A parallel spinoff called Run Run Run also emerged around the same period, tied to the same Apertum Foundation network. South African promoters including Andrew Eaton, Bruce Hughes, Neil Leon de Waal, Costa Solomou, Anesca Swart, Eugene Blignaut, Michelle Blignaut, Luisette Mullin, Andrew Haratsidis, and Brendon Earp-Jones were documented at an Apertum Foundation promotional event in Hong Kong in June 2026, marketed internally as the Asia Hustle event. Recruitment and promoter webinars have continued even after the FSCA warning was issued.

Red Flags. What Victims Reported

Investigation Findings

South Africa's FSCA issued its formal warning on September 7, 2026, stating that DAO1 was soliciting funds from members of the public for cryptocurrency investment and trading without holding any authorization to provide financial services. The FSCA warning explicitly noted that it could not reach DAO1 on the contact details provided, a finding consistent with platforms that have begun to wind down or are avoiding regulatory contact. This was the FSCA's second action against entities in this network: the authority issued a GSPartners securities fraud warning in November 2023.

DefendMe analysts reviewed publicly available records showing that Apertum Foundation is connected to Josip Heit, who in 2024 settled securities fraud allegations with North American regulators covering the predecessor entities GSB Group and GSPartners. As of September 2026, court and regulatory records indicate the financial terms of that settlement had not been fulfilled, and more than a dozen fraud warnings and enforcement orders across North American jurisdictions remained active. The same organizational infrastructure, including the same promoter network, migrated to DAO1 and then to APTM DAO.

Open-source records and publicly available event documentation place a network of South African promoters, including Bruce Hughes, Andrew Eaton, Neil Leon de Waal, Brendon Earp-Jones, and several others, at an Apertum Foundation event in Hong Kong in June 2026, the same month DAO1 collapsed and APTM DAO was announced. South African police records confirm that de Waal was arrested in mid-2024 on fraud charges directly related to GSPartners activity; no further public updates on criminal proceedings have been reported since that arrest. Hughes, whose official title within Apertum Foundation is listed as Tech Advisor, is publicly documented as the operator of Apertum Foundation marketing channels and promoter webinars.

Criminal Context and Enforcement Landscape

The FSCA securities fraud warning against DAO1, issued September 7, 2026, carries legal weight under South African financial law. Operating as an unauthorized financial services provider while soliciting public investment is a violation of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. The FSCA warning applies equally to APTM DAO, which is the same scheme operating under a new name. South African investors who were recruited into either platform by local promoters have a documented regulatory finding they can reference when filing complaints with the FSCA or the South African Police Service (SAPS) commercial crimes unit.

Beyond South Africa, securities regulators in Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Canadian province of Alberta have each issued their own warnings against DAO1 and Apertum Foundation. In 2024, Josip Heit reached a settlement with North American securities regulators over the predecessor entities GSB Group and GSPartners. Regulatory filings indicate that as of September 2026, the financial terms of that settlement remained unfulfilled, meaning enforcement proceedings in those jurisdictions are still active. Victims in any of these jurisdictions can reference the relevant regulator's findings as part of a formal complaint.

The broader fraud category here, an MLM-structured crypto investment scheme that collapses and immediately relaunches under a new brand name, is one that law enforcement agencies including Europol and the FBI have specifically identified as a growing enforcement priority. The documented arrest of a South African promoter in 2024 and the multi-country regulatory response indicate that authorities are aware of this network. Whether further criminal action follows against specific promoters remains ongoing.

What Victims Should Do Now

  1. Stop all deposits immediately into DAO1, APTM DAO, or any Apertum Foundation product, including Run Run Run
  2. Preserve all evidence now: screenshots of your account balance, transaction records, wallet addresses, recruitment messages, webinar recordings, and any communications with promoters
  3. Do not contact the platform or your recruiter about your funds. Contact can alert operators to move assets and may compromise any future legal process
  4. Do not pay any recovery fee demanded by anyone claiming they can retrieve your money. Recovery scams specifically target people who have already lost funds in schemes like this one
  5. File a formal complaint with South Africa's FSCA at fsca.co.za and with the SAPS commercial crimes unit in your area, referencing the FSCA's September 7, 2026 warning against DAO1
  6. If you sent cryptocurrency, record every wallet address and transaction hash you can find. Blockchain records are permanent and can be used in tracing and legal proceedings
  7. Use DefendMe's criminal complaint tool to document your case and connect it with the existing multi-jurisdictional regulatory record against this scheme

Source: https://behindmlm.com/companies/gspartners/dao1-securities-fraud-warning-from-south-africa/

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