The Turkish authorities have shut down the operations of a local payments company that allegedly laundered proceeds from illegal betting and fraudulent forex trading. Notably, the payments platform held a licence from the Turkish central bank, but its website currently remains unreachable.
A Multi-City Raid by Turkish Police
According to local media reports, Turkish financial crimes police carried out operations across eight cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, Balıkesir, Muğla, Tokat, Kocaeli, and Bursa. This resulted in the arrest of 38 suspects on charges related to money laundering linked to illegal betting and fraud. A majority, if not all, were later released on bail.
Read more: Vietnam Busts $200M Forex Trading Scam – Will It Trigger Action Against CFD Brokers Too?
The investigation also led to the confiscation of the suspects’ assets. The authorities additionally appointed a Deposit Insurance Fund (TISF) administrator to the company.
Turkish prosecutors explained that the payment platform offered e-wallet and other services used to launder proceeds from illegal activities. The funds were moved both within the country and abroad.
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Authorities Across the Globe Are Targeting Fraud
Meanwhile, authorities in other countries have also carried out raids linked to illegal gambling and forex fraud. Last August, Malaysian police raided a commercial building in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and arrested or detained more than 100 individuals. The operation, which focused on call centre activities, was also carried out at the premises of a well-known contracts for differences (CFDs) broker.
Similar raids and arrests have been carried out over the years across several European countries.
Despite police action, criminal activity worldwide continues to grow. Last December, Europol revealed the takedown of a cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering network believed to have laundered more than 700 million euros. According to the agency, “the criminal network operated numerous fake cryptocurrency investment platforms, luring thousands of victims with advertisements promising high returns.”
European authorities also removed more than 1,400 fraudulent online trading platforms that misled retail investors. In addition, they shut down a crypto-mixing service, Cryptomixer, which was allegedly used by cybercriminals to launder more than €1.3 billion in Bitcoin. Authorities confiscated three servers, the platform’s domain, more than €25 million ($29 million) in BTC, and over 12 terabytes of operational data.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
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