They said "There is no need for an expert" and sold the wrecked vehicle as solid: 16 detained

In the work carried out by the Public Security Branch Directorate teams under the coordination of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Forgery and Fraud Crimes Investigation Bureau, suspects operating in Istanbul and buying and selling vehicles throughout Türkiye were identified. It was determined that the suspects sold heavily damaged vehicles as vehicles with no damage record by reducing the mileage of second-hand vehicles or using fake expert reports, and in this way, they victimized many citizens and made a large amount of unfair profit.

16 SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY

As a result of the studies, a simultaneous operation was carried out against 18 suspects at 19 addresses in Istanbul and Muğla. While 16 suspects were caught during the operation, it was learned that efforts to capture 2 suspects were continuing. During the searches carried out at the suspects' homes, vehicles, documents and weapons were seized, the kilometers of which were thought to have been tampered with.

THANKS FROM THE VICTIMS TO THE POLICE TEAMS

Some of the 30 victims who were determined to have been defrauded using the same method came to the Public Security Branch Directorate and completed the official procedures. Speaking after giving their statements at the Fraud Bureau, the victims thanked the police teams who uncovered the fraud and caught the suspects.

'I BELIEVED HIS SWEET WORDS, I DID NOT TAKE IT TO THE EXPERT'

Murat Koç, the victim, said: "I went to buy a car. The car looked very nice. I said, 'Let's take it to the expert.' He said, 'What's the need? Don't give 15-20 thousand liras to the expert.' I looked at the car and I liked it. I believed his sweet words, I didn't take it to the expert. Then, my son took the car for inspection. The car had 430 thousand kilometers and was registered as seriously damaged. I thank the Turkish police very much, I am grateful. Don't give them the opportunity." he said.

"THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED"

Serkan Elman said, "I found the vehicle from the owner, they sold it for 570 thousand liras. They said, 'There is no damage record'. It seemed like a proper vehicle. They showed it to the expert 2 days ago. They showed the vehicle to the expert, saying, 'There is no need to take the vehicle to the expert again.' They showed a report. When we looked at it, they did not look like a fraudster. After we bought the car, we took it to the expert. The car turned out to be bad. We complain about them, they should not trust anyone. Even if there is an expert, unless they take it themselves." "They shouldn't believe it, they shouldn't trust it," he said. Another victim, Şerafettin Almaç, said, "Let's not be fooled by such attractive advertisements on the sites where vehicles are sold. This is where the most problems occur. When you like the vehicles, we take them to certain places, especially from registered notaries and experts, and buy them that way. Let's have the mileage checked at PTTs. We did not do these, and we were also victims in the same way. There were mileage problems in our vehicles. I would like to thank the Fraud Bureau of the Istanbul Police Department." he said.