A
fraud gang of Chinese and Taiwanese that stole millions of dollars from
thousands of people has been busted in the Urla district of the western
province of İzmir.
Nearly 85 people are members of the gang,
which rented luxurious houses in the district and mainly targeted
Chinese and Taiwanese nationals. The suspects reportedly
introduced themselves to the victims as post officers on the phone and
told them that they had tax debt. The members of the gang also
introduced themselves as police officers to those who did not believe
they were “post officers.” The money received from the victims was
transferred to foreign accounts in order to avoid being caught.
The suspects also planned to copy credit cards by putting copying machines in ATMs, but were caught by police.
The base of the gang was determined by the police, who staked it out using drones.
The
police saw that there were dozens of people inside the house, which was
made soundproof in order to prevent phone conversations from being
heard outside.
A raid was conducted on the house with 50 police officers amid tight security measures, resulting in the detention of 82 people.
Dozens
of cellphones, laptops, computers, sim cards and the identification
information of 7,000 Chinese and Taiwanese individuals were seized in
the operation.
The information on the operation was shared with
Interpol, while the İzmir police received commendations from the Chinese
Consulate General.
Ten of the 82 detained were arrested while
the others were taken to the İzmir Directorate of Immigration
Administration for deportation.