Fraudsters sentenced to 2,187 years in prison each in Istanbul

Özge Eğrikar – ISTANBUL

Three fraudsters in Istanbul have been sentenced to 2,187 years each for inserting money-stealing devices into cash machines. 

The devices, called “parrots,” allowed Romeo Catlabuga, 38, Mihail Cotorobai, 41, and Sergiu Constantinescu, 30, to access bank accounts in cash machines after they were used by customers. 

According to the indictment in the case launched by the Istanbul Criminal Courts of First Instance, the police received a notice regarding a device planted in a cash machine in Istanbul’s touristic Eminönü district. 

The police reportedly waited for the three Moldovan citizens to withdraw money and caught them in action. 

The authorities found that the fraudsters inserted the money-stealing devices into 25 bank machines in Istanbul and the western province of İzmir, making a total of 151,194 Turkish liras in three months. 

The court initially sentenced the fraudsters to nine years, two months and 15 days in prison each, upon a complaint filed against them, but the sentences increased due to the total number of 243 complainants made against them, making their sentence 2,187 years each. 

The court also ordered them to pay a fine of 112,500 liras.