It went down! Things were already flaky in Turkey, a country ravaged by a currency crisis. And now a Turkish crypto exchange with about 400,000 users has been accused of pulling an exit scam.
Thodex is the name of the cryptocurrency exchange that has gone offline, and its CEO has gone missing. Allegedly, he has fled the country taking $2 billion of customer funds with him, leaving investors worried that their funds have been stolen.
Seeing as that they are unable to access their accounts.
A statement on the website of the exchange details that the platform is temporarily closed to address an abnormal fluctuation in the company accounts.
Local media reports that Thodex founder Faruk Fatih Ozer has fled the country to Albania, with the Demiroren New Agency publishing a photo that claims to be Ozer leaving Istanbul Airport, allegedly taking investor funds with him.
Turkish authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for Ozer, with Interpol also issuing a red notice for the guy on Friday.
Police searched the company’s Istanbul office and seized materials on Thursday. Arrest warrants have been issued for 78 suspects, and police have so far detailed 62 people in eight cities in connection to the case.
Cryptocurrencies have recently gained popularity among Turkish citizens looking to protect their savings from soaring inflation and sinking lira.
The country’s central bank recently banned the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with President Recap Tayyip Erdogan calling for swift regulation of these digital assets, amid warnings of a rising number of pyramid schemes in the crypto space.
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