Turkish law enforcement agencies have detained 127 people on suspicion of involvement in the work of a local fraudulent crypto scheme Smart Trade Coin STC. The project has attracted more than $31 million of investors in recent years.
The creators of Smart Trade Coin promised investors a high profit and a complete absence of risks, the prosecutor's office says. To convince investors of the security of their investments, the attackers told potential clients about the "guaranteed stop-loss function" and advanced trading bots that make automatic transactions. Victims said that scammers persuaded to take loans and buy crypto assets, giving unfulfilled promises of large monthly profits.
In 2023, the analytical company AI Multiple Research marked Smart Trade Coin as a fraudulent project due to the lack of transparency in doing business. Since 2021, the Turkish police have been receiving numerous complaints about Smart Trade Coin from investors who have suffered a financial collapse.
The investigation revealed that the platform was a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. Investors were invited to attract new participants, from whose investments profits were paid to early investors. Police raided 21 locations in Ankara, detaining 127 people. All of them are suspected of international fraud and money laundering. Law enforcement officers confiscated assets worth 1 billion Turkish liras( about $31 million), movable and immovable property, unlicensed firearms and cryptocurrency.
At the end of last year, the Turkish government promised to develop new rules for regulating cryptocurrencies, so that the international Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) removed the country from its "gray list".
The creators of Smart Trade Coin promised investors a high profit and a complete absence of risks, the prosecutor's office says. To convince investors of the security of their investments, the attackers told potential clients about the "guaranteed stop-loss function" and advanced trading bots that make automatic transactions. Victims said that scammers persuaded to take loans and buy crypto assets, giving unfulfilled promises of large monthly profits.
In 2023, the analytical company AI Multiple Research marked Smart Trade Coin as a fraudulent project due to the lack of transparency in doing business. Since 2021, the Turkish police have been receiving numerous complaints about Smart Trade Coin from investors who have suffered a financial collapse.
The investigation revealed that the platform was a cryptocurrency pyramid scheme. Investors were invited to attract new participants, from whose investments profits were paid to early investors. Police raided 21 locations in Ankara, detaining 127 people. All of them are suspected of international fraud and money laundering. Law enforcement officers confiscated assets worth 1 billion Turkish liras( about $31 million), movable and immovable property, unlicensed firearms and cryptocurrency.
At the end of last year, the Turkish government promised to develop new rules for regulating cryptocurrencies, so that the international Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) removed the country from its "gray list".
