Turkey dismantles ‘Israel’-linked international fraud ring

Turkish authorities have dismantled what Justice Minister Akın Gürlek described as an ‘Israel’-linked international fraud network that used fake forex and cryptocurrency investment schemes to defraud foreign nationals, detaining 175 suspects in coordinated raids.

In a statement on Friday, Gürlek announced that simultaneous operations began at 5 AM targeting 286 addresses in Istanbul and Muğla.

Authorities identified 239 suspects linked to 28 companies and 42 call centers.

By 10 AM, 175 people had been detained, with searches and further detentions ongoing.

Interpol units participated in the raids.

“We dealt a major blow to an Israel-linked international fraud network,” Gürlek wrote in his announcement.

The investigation, launched this year through four separate probes by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, was coordinated by its Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Investigation Bureau in cooperation with the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Istanbul branch, organized crime units, and Istanbul police cybercrime teams.

Financial analysis by MASAK (Turkey’s financial crimes authority), MİT and police findings, and hundreds of victim complaints obtained via Interpol revealed that individuals with links to ‘Israel’ featured prominently among the owners and ultimate beneficiaries of the companies involved.

Gürlek said this exposed an organized structure targeting victims in multiple countries.

The network allegedly advertised high-return forex and crypto investments on social media and the internet.

Multilingual call center staff lured victims, then displayed fictitious profits on controlled platforms to encourage larger deposits.

When people tried to withdraw funds, operators demanded additional payments citing reasons such as “account blocks” or “taxes.”

The money was transferred to overseas bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.

Victims were primarily from Europe, the Far East, Africa and other regions.

Over two years, transactions assessed as covering only office expenses and salaries reached approximately 13 billion Turkish lira, underscoring the operation’s scale.

Some reports indicated seizures of assets valued at around 1.5 billion lira, along with dozens of vehicles and properties.