'The Biggest Fraud in the History of Turkiye': Why Turks Fall Victims of Crypto Platforms?
After issuing an international arrest warrant for Faruk Fatih Ozer, Albania has finally arrested the founder of the digital currency exchange platform, Thodex, who fled Turkiye with $2 billion of investors' assets in 2021, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday, August 30.
The fugitive Ozer was arrested in Vlore, and his identity was recognized by biometric results.
The procedures for his extradition have been initiated by the Turkish police's Interpol department.
Ozer's fraud reminded people of thousands of victims who fell into such traps because of the Turkish government's lack of monitoring the crypto platforms.
Finally Arrested
The Turkish Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday, August 30, the arrest of the wanted Fatih Ozer, founder of the cryptocurrency platform, Thodex, after fleeing to Albania last year.
Albanian Minister of Interior Bledar Cuci informed Turkiye's interior minister, Suleiman Soylu, on Tuesday morning, of the arrest of Ozer in Vlore.
Ozer is an international wanted person on charges of "establishing a criminal organization and fraud, indicating that he was linked to several international wanted persons in Albania.
Ozer, who founded the crypto company, Thodex, and escaped with 356 million liras he collected from thousands of people, was caught in the touristic city of Vlore, known as the Seychelles of Albania.
The identity of Ozer, who gave a fake name to the Albanian police knocking on his door, was verified with his face and fingerprint. Detained Ozer will be extradited to Turkiye.
The Turkish Public Prosecution opened an investigation on April 22, 2021, following a report revealing that hundreds of clients of Thodex were unable to access their accounts on the platform amid claims that the founder of the company had fled abroad.
Investigations later revealed that Ozer left the country on April 20, 2021. Interpol issued an international arrest warrant on the 23rd of the same month.
Crypto Platforms, A Trap for Thousands!
In the 268-page indictment prepared by the Anatolian Prosecutor's Office, 21 people, including Faruk Fatih Ozer, older brother Guven Ozer, and older sister Sera Oz, were found as "suspects," and 2,027 as "complainants." Thodex abruptly halted trading after publishing a message saying it needs five days to check an unidentified foreign investment. The platform was closed with $2 billion from 391,000 investors.
Thodex is a digital currency exchange platform founded in 2017, operating under license in the United States, and it is open to users worldwide. It is noteworthy that the Turkish Central Bank has recently banned the use of currencies and digital assets in the purchase of goods and services, pointing to the possibility of potential irreparable damage and significant risks in those transactions.
Turkiye has become one of the world's leading countries in digital currency trading platforms, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The dynamism of the Turkish market is due to the existence of many local and international platforms, which provide the possibility of legally trading hundreds of different digital currencies in both Turkish and English.
Many Turkish banks allow the transfer of funds from the personal account of their customers to the various trading platforms that have licenses from the country's financial regulators.
Many local companies have heavily invested in this field and have the biggest share of the daily trades of Turks in cryptocurrencies, such as BtcTurk and Paribu.
Despite the positive indicators for the future of the digital currency market in Turkiye, the official and governmental position remains fluctuating between encouragement and prevention. As in the case of traditional exchanges, the absence of this central authority will not allow people who are victims of wrong transactions and speculation or who fall prey to fraudulent transactions, as in the case of Thodex, to protect their investments in cryptocurrencies.
Shake Confidence
Ozer's case was a shock to the cryptocurrency market, prompting the major players to strictly provide all legal and financial guarantees for safe trading in accordance with the regulations of the Turkish Central Bank, especially since the Turkish authorities have information about the identity of all users of these digital platforms.
Regardless of the Thodex scandal, those who are against the cryptocurrency market still strongly reject it, as it is one of the means for citizens to protect their savings from high inflation and the decline of the Turkish currency.
This shift to saving and investing in digital currencies puts pressure on the local currency's confidence, representing a counter-direction to the country's desperate efforts to maintain the stability of the lira.
The Turkish Central Bank banned the use of digital currencies in 2021, most notably Bitcoin, as a payment tool. This decision prevented all payment service providers from developing business models such as providing payment services and issuing electronic money.
Nevertheless, the future of crypto, between legalization and prohibition, remains open, and the proof is what happened in China.
Despite being the center of the digital currency market, the Chinese authority decided to launch a crackdown on digital currency mining, in addition to preventing crypto companies from providing services Digital asset trading and clearing, issuance of digital assets, and financial derivatives.
The sudden decision has led many analysts to confirm that despite the general optimistic trend of increasing trade in buying and selling digital currencies across the world, the position of the overwhelming majority of governments and central banks is still banning, directly or indirectly, all trading, custody, and issuance of digital currencies.
