Turkish daily Hürriyet reported on March 13 that the country’s police busted a cryptocurrency scam in the city of Silivri near Istanbul, capturing a total of 119 Chinese, 18 of whom are suspects and 101 others who appear to have been forced to work by the 18.
The suspects reportedly rented nine villas in the area and set up a “phone call center” to provide so-called “cryptocurrency consulting services” to people living in China. The 18 suspects, including programmers, network engineers and other professionals from China, promised jobs to another 101 Chinese who, once they arrived at the “workplace,” were forced to “work” for the 18 suspects by having their passports seized and being banned from leaving the premises.
Diario Libre quoted the police as saying that two of them fled the building during the night and then called the police. In total, more than 100 police officers were deployed to carry out the arrests. The police also revealed that the persons identified as victims also said during interrogations that they were aware that they had entered Turkey on tourist visas.
Police also seized 1.5 million liras in cash (about $198,000), 712 cell phones, 677 SIM cards, 112 computers, as well as money counters, hard drives and other materials during the arrest operation. Police disclosed that the suspects were paying each person forced to work about 7,000 yuan a month as “wages”.
Currently, six of the 18 suspects have been handed over to judicial custody. The Immigration Bureau is also taking over the issue of 101 Chinese illegal immigrants.
When Deutsche Welle called the Chinese Consulate General in Istanbul on the morning of March 13, a staff member said, “We don’t have the information yet.
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