The Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation that lasted approximately 9 months, revealing that a criminal organization led by A.K., operating in 30 provinces, had established 206 front companies in different cities.
It was determined that members of the organization, who contacted individuals interested in investing by accessing the “FOREX” application website, gave the impression that they were conducting licensed and legal investment consultancy or brokerage activities for a company operating in London in Turkey.
It was understood that the organization’s members persuaded citizens to invest through their own companies and directed them to send money to the accounts of front companies. It was found that through this method, the organization defrauded a total of 66 individuals of 48,198,208 Turkish liras.
As a result of examining a report obtained from the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), it was revealed that the said criminal organization managed a money flow amounting to 18,440,666,481 Turkish liras.
Furthermore, an analysis of the MASAK report indicated that about 8,340 individuals may have been similarly defrauded using suspicious and front company accounts, leading to the seizure of approximately 2.5 billion Turkish lira in assets belonging to the suspects.
195 suspects connected to the organization were identified in Antalya, Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Konya, Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya, Eskişehir, Balıkesir, Manisa, Aydın, Gaziantep, Yozgat, Muğla, Hatay, Nevşehir, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaraş, Kars, Mardin, Zonguldak, Samsun, Kocaeli, Bursa, Denizli, Niğde, Mersin, Adana, Diyarbakır, and Bitlis, and arrest warrants were issued for them, resulting in simultaneous operations being launched.
