Bitcoin Forum

I personally felt slapped and amazed in a mixed feeling to hear that a young man who claims to be a cryptocurrency whizz could be sent to over 11 thousand years behind bars? Like seriously? We aren't even talking days, hours or even minutes here. I personally felt embarrassed as a crypto fan to see headlines carrying 'Cryptocurrency boss' in such scandalous case reported by the news.

This, I feel, is tarnishing the image of the cryptocurrencies to have defrauded businesses and move it through his company, Thodex. Thodex was founded in 2017 and became on of Turkey's largest exchange for digital currencies.

I brought this topic here, firstly, because of the amazement, secondly to know if there are possibilities of stopping this from happening again tomorrow, even though, cryptocurrencies are decentralized and have little regulations. I felt numb to see such an 'acclaimed' crypto big whiz involved in scamming over 2,027 victims. I mean anyone from this forum could fall a victim.

News sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66752785#

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-08/turkish-crypto-boss-sentenced-to-over-11-000-years-in-prison

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/09/turkish-crypto-boss-faruk-fatih-ozer-sentenced-to-11196-years-in-jail/

My question is, how do we identify and overcome such fraudsters in the system, now and in future?

There are more fugitive in fiat word than crypto. Such harsh sentence was not expected but this guy going to jail will bring peace of mind to those who suffered because of his action. Meanwhile those investors of FTX are still suffering. I think such judgement won't tarnish the image of cryptocurrency but improve its reputation as people will now know that scammers cannot escape the law. There is cross border crypto regulation policy that will be up for discussion in the ongoing G20 summit in India. If the synthesis paper (https://www.fsb.org/2023/09/imf-fsb-synthesis-paper-policies-for-crypto-assets/) is approved then it won't be easy for such scammers in the future.

The only way that the problem you're talking about can be overcome is if each individual are thinking or asking the right questions (if they know the right questions to ask) to someone who proposes them with something, so there's less likely people to fall prey to scams. But in truth though, I think it's difficult to get rid of fraudsters in the system, some appear legitimate at first and then when the right time happens that's when they show what they really are an defraud people. Two good examples of this is @Yogg and Bernie Madoff, they both came off as someone that was trustworthy but lo and behold, they decided to still scam people.

Money laundering, fraud cases and organized crime? I don't see any reason to feel pity for this fella, I reaped what he sow, I prefer spending some time thinking about those people he defraud of their hard-earned money, some people still invest more money than they should in crypto these days, they like risking it all, and imagine they meet this bad fate of Thodex founder?

This is what Sam Bankman Fried or whatever his name is should face, but the US isn't Turkey anyway, the laws and upright of every countries are different, and yes Sam did used FTX customers fund to help some politicians, maybe the reason why this Thodex founder is facing this charges is because he took all the money for himself, he funded no politicians.

The most corrupted people are in politics, if not I don't see why FTX case hasn't turned to something similar to this, anyway.

Same thing is happening with Fiat too and I am sure that it happens more with Fiat than Crypto, because these criminals have understood that crypto money is traceable.

Whatever this man did tarnished his own image not that of crypto, because there is crime in everything that's created to make life easier for the people.

Such weird prison sentences are common in Turkey, for example in 2021 they put 1239 people (including 305 children between the ages of 12 to 17) in prison for "insulting the president"!

It is tough in most cases to detect this type of scams, we already have a history filled with big and small versions of them specially among the centralized exchanges that keep running away. The difficult part is of course because they don't look like scams since they are working fine until they run away!

The judicial system sometimes use sentences like this to set an example for other people to think twice, before they commit crimes like this. Ross Ulbricht for example .... is an American serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for creating and operating the Darknet market website Silk Road.... everyone know his sentence was a big f@ck you message to everyone that wants to do the same thing.  :P

In some countries people gets longer sentences for financial crimes, than what they get for murder and rape and violent crimes ....weird but true.  :o

I don't know much about laws and order in Turkey but are you saying that murders and rape penalties in Turkey are not this harsh compared to financial crimes? If this is true that that country sucks, but come to think about it, this man run away with his people's money, that's like destroying the lives of many Turkish citizen, now let's take this side by side with a rapist that have four or five victims, he will be fined and also sentenced, max of 15 years as I read after doing my own research, I am not saying raping is not a crime but I think it makes sense that the exchange CEO was given life imprisonment, there is more we might not know in this case, what if there are people who have committed suicide because they lose their hard-earned money to a criminal?

I think this punishment fits the crime, correct me if I am wrong in anyway, a rapist can still have a change of heart and I am not saying it's good that women or females get raped, but up to 15 years is good enough for this crime, that's enough time to mess with one's head and regret their decisions, but financial crime looks cheap in our eyes because we don't think about the mess, hundreds of thousands of people are ruined here, maybe even more.

Don't feel too bad because this is not pointing at bitcoin specifically, the feed says cryptocurrency and you could agree with me that in cryptocurrency but there are alot of shitcoins, also we can say it comprises of bitcoin, memecoins and memetokens otherwise known as NFT, you can also agree with me that NFT is one of the biggest and fasted means by which people get scammed because of many illicit activities going on through it, but what actually surprised me was the years of sentence, how long did he even gave to live on earth before dying to have deserve that much, will his generation continue the terms, or what if he had none to be traced with.

Those years? How many times does he need to be resurrected? LOL 😆

I understand your mixed feelings about the sentencing of Faruk Ozer. It is certainly a shocking case, and it is understandable that you would feel embarrassed as a crypto fan. It is important to remember that Ozer is not the first person to commit fraud in the cryptocurrency space, and he will not be the last.

Every crypto enthusiast feels a hit in the gut when they hear stories like this. The headline is a stain on something many of us value. Crypto fraud is a major issue, especially since the industry is decentralized and uncontrolled.

Discuss solutions. There are ways to be more careful. Due diligence is essential. Research an investment or trading platform's founders, security protocols, user reviews, and reputation before investing or using it. Transparent companies are less likely to be scams.

Improve regulations. I know crypto enthusiasts may object, but a little regulation could help weed out crooks.

Educate and be educated. Many forums, websites, and online communities discuss the latest security measures, red flags, and trustworthy platforms. Knowing is your best defense.

Actually, no one thinks twice when they commit crime and no punishment is enough for anyone to stop from it because absolutely everyone thinks that they are the only ones who won't get caught up by police.
Overall, government itself is a group of criminals. The problem is, this group of criminals want to have an exclusive access, control and power on everything. When there comes someone with its own plan to become a criminal in certain niche, if this person or group won't cooperate with government, will automatically turn into its enemy and will end up in prison.
I really hope that everyone knows that governments are actively into money laundering and illegal activities but they don't punish themselves but this is a different subject.
By the way, have you guys seen movie The Midnight Express? It's a very interesting old movie about what happens in Turkish prisons, watch it if you have a time, it's really a great movie.

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Guys, what's your opinion about prison system, is Turkish system better to lower crime rate in country or is Norwegian system far better and beneficial?

They could have chosen investor, or entrepreneur or some other business related title for the article but instead they chose to use crypto related titles, to me it seems like they are indirectly trying to tell the public that the crypto space is filled with scams and if they should involve themselves in it they fall for one of them. 

But as long as the dude is guilty of all that he was charged for it don’t really feel any pity for him, but why did they decide to go for that weird duration for his time in prison. I know that he did commit different crimes but they could have just used “life imprisonment” but instead they chose “11,196 years”.

The media has always been like that, looking for loopholes to tarnish whatever positive image that's left of this industry. The media is quick to loud anything that cast aspersions on cryptocurrency but hesitant to write when it's good news. I ain't surprised about that. The only way you can embarrassed with such headlined news would be if you're in any way trying to prove a point to people that this industry is without blemish. I don't bother this day with such. However, let's face the fact. From what I read about the case, the Thodex boss committed the laundering and manipulative crimes years ago and ran away from the country. If this holds as truth, he should face the wrath of the law. There shouldn't be any emotions attached to it. A crime is a crime, it doesn't matter what colouration we give to it.

Criminals are clever. Most of them have a way of going under the radar. The best way to scheme them out will be to not be greedy in chasing ROI they always promise. Again, don't leave coins you can't avoid to lose of exchanges. As if there's any loss one won't feel its impact in a world where $5 means something 🙄

this man is the worst, the Turkish citizen are desperate because their money is over-inflated and they try to survive this disaster moving to crypto. This man exploited those desperation and took advantage of it. I know some of us might judge the victim on how they can be so blind and can't see the fraud that those perpetrator has done, but trust me when people are desperate, they can trust even unbelievable opportunity.

He was found guilty, there are more than 2 thousand victims, and he seems to think he's very smart and capable (so, no remorse, I guess), but I still don't get the sentence length. I mean, if it's a sentence for the rest of his life, he can be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Or to two life sentences. But thousands of years... I see that it's apparently common in Turkey, but still.
Also, while fraud is a crime, I'm not sure if I believe that it's such a huge crime, if it wasn't violent (and I assume it wasn't in this case because it's online). Does a person even deserve life imprisonment for that? Wouldn't it be better to force him to repay all the debt to the victims and serve a reasonable prison sentence?
As for identifying and overcoming such fraudsters in the future, it seems that the law enforcement is doing alright in that regard, and what people should do is avoid losing money on exchanges by simply never keeping a big amount on any exchanges, no matter how reputable they seem.

This can be overcome by asking the right questions before taking any step into cryptocurrency. The negligence of not asking question and putting your money into a scam investment portraying themselves as bitcoin company helping people with their investments can be the cause. There’s nothing like such in crypto, just learn how to keep your money save  with you by abiding to the rules of privacy and securing your account from being infiltrated by fraudsters.

It has always been to adhere to security tips as anyone would say, but to identify and overcome such fraudsters who parade under the guise of a legit business may require instinct, background/thorough research and the knowledge of having a personal and offline cold wallet.
The Turkish government would have simply called his sentence a life sentence, since his offence is so bad that it could be compared to terrorism act. Such cases make what the U.S SEC regulators is probing in the instance of Binance, appear deeper than the eyes meet.

He got what he deserves what else can we expect for this fraudster who has scammed thousands of innocent people and he not only cheated them but shattered their trust they had on the crypto world, unfortunately nowadays crypto ecosystem is filled with criminals like him who are using this ecosystems for their unholy purpose, it's just a tip of iceberg and I see people try to defend this stating their are much bigger scams happening in fiat world but that doesn't justify this scam.

And how will this sentence stop the suffering of the one whoFTX had funds on Thodex?

Unlike Thodex victims who can only look at the guy going to jail and that's it at least the ones in FTX case do actually have a chance of getting their money back, FTX had 8.7 billion of customers' funds and 7 billion have been recovered, what do you yout hink people would want more 10 life sentences for SBF or their money?

This "peace of mind" you talk is so middle ages style!


Are we really comparing the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians to a guy fucking up while running an exchange? Common!

Always look on the bright side. The Prosecutors had asked for 40,562 years (link (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/turkish-crypto-boss-sentenced-to-11196-years-in-jail/articleshow/103521609.cms?from=mdr)). He must have had a top elite legal team, as they managed to get his sentence reduced almost 4-fold. It's actually a big win  ;D
But seriously, the Turkish laws and the justice system are just silly. Or maybe not... With the pace of technological progress, he might live to the times when immortality is achievable. Or maybe he could just bribe some top-officials to get him a presidential pardon.

Considering the amount of people he scammed and the amount of money he has stolen, I would say that was basically just "make sure he doesn't get out" punishment. You can give a person 100 years in jail and they would still not be able to get out, but if there is some sort of pardon for that crime, or if some sort of good behavior stuff, he could get out when he is older.

I have seen plenty of people who were "punished with life sentence" where they theoretically should stay at prison for all their life, but got out after 20-25-30 years because that is when parole starts. This judgement was made probably because even if he gets out of one, he stays in for the others, and there is no possible way that he could ever be out.

Why would you feel that way when a scammer is paying for his sins? Well, if it's because of the 11,196 years he was slammed with, it is not a new thing in the country. Turkey is known for dishing out extraordinary sentences to criminals since the abolition of death penalty in 2014. If you've to feel anything, then feel for the parent who just lost three of their children because Faruk Fatih Özer was sentenced alongside two of his siblings. More also, I don't see how this would tarnish the image of crypto in any way, rather it would serve as a deterrent to exchanges and other crypto projects operating in Turkey.