PUBG chat leads to capture of cryptocurrency thieves

TURKISH police yesterday detained 24 people on charges of stealing cryptocurrencies worth TL 13 million from an Istanbul-based company. The suspects were arrested from Turkey’s eight different provinces in a nationwide operation after the company filed a police report that large amounts of their Bitcoin, Etherium and Ripple cryptocurrencies have been stolen.

The Istanbul Cybercrimes Branch discovered that two of the company’s virtual currency accounts had been hacked, and cryptocurrency worth some TL 13 million had been transferred from the hacked accounts to other virtual cryptocurrency accounts.

The Cybercrime units then launched an operation to capture the suspects. Police discovered that the suspects communicated each other via popular online multiplayer battle royal game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

In a simultaneous operation carried out in the provinces of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Afyonkarahisar, Bursa, Edirne, Bolu and Antalya, police arrested the 24 suspects yesterday.

During the raids, the police recovered TL 54,000 in cash and TL 1.3 million in virtual currency at the suspects’ addresses. It was later delivered to the company authorities.

Two of the 24 suspects were released by the prosecutor’s office after legal procedures were completed at the police station. The other 22 suspects were referred to the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan. The court placed six under arrest while releasing 16 suspects were released on condition of judicial control.