20 detained in anti-cybercrime op

DİYARBAKIR

In an operation against cybercrime in 11 provinces, 20 suspects have been detained as they have been determined to target companies and senior public officials and to seize the information of 85 million people, selling them with the fake e-mails.

Within the scope of the operation based in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, the anti-cybercrime units of the provincial police launched an investigation after a notification by a company that there were data breaches in its system.

The police identified 20 people who communicated with each other online using nicknames.

Determining the identities of the suspects, the police carried out an operation in 11 provinces.

In simultaneous raids, 20 suspects were caught, while the teams also seized a large number of mobile phones, computers and digital materials at houses and workplaces of the suspects.

The police determined that the suspects specifically targeted senior public officials.

It was found that the passwords of those who clicked on the fake emails sent by the suspects were copied. With these passwords, the identity, address and credit card information of 85 million people were obtained, and this information was sold to fraudsters.

The suspects set up an online platform and accepted the member to the platform only by a reference.

It was determined that the suspects communicate with each other via this platform in order to avoid being caught by the cyber police.

Carrying out the operation named “Shield” against the hacker organization, the police also found that the ringleader of the organization was under arrest for another crime.

It was also stated that the managers of the organization know each other only by their pseudonyms, and they did not ever have a face-to-face communication.