Turkish intel cracks down on cybercrime ring

ISTANBUL

Turkish authorities have carried out a coordinated operation against an organized cybercrime group that used the names of state services to deceive victims and steal credit-card data.

According to the investigation carried out by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), which unfolded after six months of monitoring, the suspects installed malicious software on Android smartphones that gave them full remote control of infected devices.

The malware allowed attackers to send fraudulent text messages that impersonated two familiar domestic services — the highway toll service, HGS, and PTT, the national postal service — with messages such as “You have an HGS debt,” or “You have an undelivered PTT parcel.”

Victims who clicked links in those messages were redirected to counterfeit websites where their payment details were harvested.

As part of the operations carried out simultaneously in six provinces centered on Istanbul, authorities seized 318 websites used in phishing campaigns and arrested 10 suspects.