Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office: 90 suspects arrested in 'modem fraud', 116 million TL seized

In an investigation coordinated by the Eskişehir Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 90 suspects were detained in simultaneous operations conducted across 19 provinces. Anadolu Agency reported.

The suspects called citizens and identified themselves as representatives of Turkish Telekom and similar corporate internet service providers. They said, "The country's internet infrastructure is changing, your old modem won't work; if you buy a new modem, your bill will decrease." They threatened those who refused with increased bills.

According to the findings of the Eskişehir Police Department's Public Order Branch Fraud Bureau, the majority of modems sent were incompatible with the existing infrastructure; the promised bill reductions were never applied to any victim. 801 victims transferred approximately 116 million lira in total to accounts belonging to the suspects.

The operation, centered in Eskişehir, covered 19 provinces including Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa, Çanakkale, and Muğla; proceedings against the 90 suspects are ongoing.

Fraud schemes using the pretext of "infrastructure changes" are not new: the Information and Communication Technologies Authority issued a warning in 2023 against call centers operating with similar methods, with the number of identified victims at that time remaining in the hundreds. This operation surpasses those cases many times over both in the number of suspects and the amount seized.