The Crypto world is shocked by the reports of cryptocurrency fraud coming out of Turkey where Thodex exchange. It has been alleged that the company’s founder Faruk Fatih Ozer has fled to Albania with the money of investors. The amount of money is expected to be to the tune of $2 billion and 390,000 investors are expected to have been impacted.
The scam was brought to light on 22nd April when the Turkish financial criminal investigation board started investigating the Thodex platform for financial irregularities after users complained to officials that they were not able to access their accounts or money. Images of Thodex founder Faruk Fatih Ozer were surfaced which were from the airport as Associated Press reported. As investigations began Turkish agencies detained 62 individuals in connection with the fraud and issued an international warrant for his arrest after which Interpol issued a red corner notice against him.
Thodex went offline and posted a message that no user of the trading platform has been a victim and the platform has been a victim of a cyber-attack because of which there have been some discrepancies in the books and is working towards establishing the cause of the attack and securing the data of users. It further went on to say that any allegation against the platform is unfounded and the company has transparent books which have been turned over to MASAK and related authorities from time to time.
The statement established that the reason for Faruk’s departure on 19th April to Albania was an urgent final meeting with new foreign investors. It said that he would soon return back to Turkey after coordination with the Justice Department and that he would never commit a crime against his country.
The effect of this news on the market was massive as all the digital currencies from Bitcoin to Ethereum started fluctuating as news of this scam continued to pour into the market prompting volatile behavior of the market.
