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Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Sunday that 170 suspects were detained in nationwide cybercrime operations over the past five days, with 55 placed under arrest.
The raids, carried out in 18 provinces, targeted online child pornography and abuse, fraud, illegal betting, and theft, Yerlikaya said on X. Judicial control measures were applied to 34 suspects, while proceedings for the rest are ongoing.
Authorities seized assets believed to have been obtained through crime—including five companies, seven residences, and 10 vehicles worth ₺341 million ($8.18 million).
“It was determined that the suspects possessed child pornographic images, defrauded our citizens by using themes such as bungalow rentals, account use, investment consultancy, and furniture sales, organized illegal betting and gambling, facilitated unlawful money transfers, and unlawfully accessed citizens’ mobile banking accounts,” Yerlikaya said.
The operations were conducted in Adana, Afyonkarahisar, Antalya, Bingol, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Malatya, Mardin, Mersin, Siirt, Sanliurfa, Tunceli, and Yozgat.
Yerlikaya urged the public to stay alert: “The strongest shield against cybercrime is awareness. Please report suspicious situations to our 112 Emergency Call Center, and we will take the necessary action.” His post included a video showing police footage from the operations.
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Türkiye has also emerged as one of the top three countries most affected by a new wave of cyberattacks targeting gamers with fake installation files, according to Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis.
Researchers said the malicious software is primarily aimed at gaming enthusiasts aged 18–35 in Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. The malware is often disguised as “beta” game versions distributed via Discord and YouTube.
VirusTotal data shows Türkiye accounted for 17% of all global detections of fake installers, following the United States and Brazil.
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