In addition to illegal betting, the sweeping probe covered online fraud, child pornography, harassment and unauthorised access to computer systems. Some 145 people were formally arrested as part of the investigation, with 128 suspects placed under judicial supervision.
Among the assets seized by police were unlicensed firearms, hard drives, servers, mobile phones, bank cards and other digital evidence. The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office partnered the Cyber Crime Combat Department of the General Directorate of Security on the raids.
Setting out further details of the case, police said that people in Turkey were defrauded in various ways. These included scam ForEx investment partnerships and crypto investment consultancies, e-commerce fraud and fake gift card promotions.
According to police, the fraudsters collected bank accounts to be used in illegal betting and gambling. Those involved in the schemes provided infrastructure for illegal betting websites, acting as an intermediary in gambling and money transfer.
The criminals were also found to have gained “unfair profits” by accessing citizens’ mobile banking accounts, while police also discovered obscene child images.
“I congratulate our governors, our chief public prosecutors who coordinated the operations and our provincial police chiefs and hero police officers who carried out the operations,” Yerlikaya said.
“We continue our fight against crime and criminals with our virtual patrols.”
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