According to Turkish authorities, law enforcement agencies have broken up a criminal syndicate that cheated innocent residents into investing in Ponzi schemes. The syndicate disguised the Ponzi scheme as a legitimate cryptocurrency investment and deceived investors with a fake promise of high profits and zero risks. Through this operation, they have looted more than $1 billion from the investors in a few years.
Operation “CYBERGOZ-42”
Turkey’s Minister of Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, announced that over 100 suspects were detained in the recent crypto operation “CYBERGOZ-42” conducted in Ankara. He also stated that this operation exposed the Smart Trade Coin (STC) schemes within the country.
The crypto trading platform STC fooled the investors by promising “high profits with zero risk.” The team behind the platform assured the investors that their investments were safe with their advanced features like the Stop loss function and advanced trading bots. Only at the time of investigation was it confirmed that the platform was just a traditional Ponzi scheme.
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The Turkish authorities conducted a full sweep of all 21 provinces of Ankara and detained 127 suspects for committing international fraud and money laundering. Furthermore, during the operation, they seized more than 177 immovable assets and 61 movable assets, including an additional unlicensed gun, a blank firearm gun, and various crypto assets worth $31 million.
Since 2021, Smart Trade Coin has been suspected of being a scam because investors have protested and denounced its practices. AI Multiple Research, a data analysis and research platform, published a study on Smart Trade Coin in 2023, stating that the platform was likely to be a crypto scam.
Analyst Insights
The head analyst at AI Multiple, Cem Dilemgani, indicated that the STC’s claims of providing software that connects multiple crypto exchanges and other such claims are unrealistic. He explained that although not impossible, arbitrage between exchanges would be very difficult in practice.
