He rented out his bank account for 7 thousand lira and faced a 180-year prison sentence!

Fraudsters carry out money laundering and illegal betting transactions through bank accounts they rent under the pretexts of "public offerings" and "cryptocurrency trading."

Those who think they can make easy money by renting out their accounts, however, find themselves facing serious prison sentences.

While the account holder bears full responsibility for any crime involving the account, Lawyer Çağrı Ayboğa issued important warnings to those who rent out their accounts regarding the matter.

"THEY ARE PERSUADED FOR 2-3 THOUSAND LIRA"

Explaining that they have recently encountered more people who have been victimized after renting out their bank accounts to earn extra income, Ayboğa said that individuals are persuaded to rent their accounts for 2-3 thousand lira with excuses such as, "We are going to enter the public offering of shares from many accounts, and we will give you a share of the profit," or "Our account is blocked, so we need to use yours."

"THEY FIRST GAIN PEOPLE'S TRUST"

Stating that sharing bank information is not a crime in itself, but that account holders are held responsible for crimes committed through these accounts, Ayboğa drew attention to the fact that rented accounts can be used for money laundering, illegal betting, fraud, and terrorism financing.

Stating that people who use rented bank accounts for criminal activities first establish contact with those in need of money to gain their trust, and act with statements such as, "We will only do stock market transactions and cryptocurrency trading; let us pay you a monthly fee in return," Ayboğa continued as follows:

"Individuals transfer their mobile banking usage rights for their own bank accounts to another number and another person. These numbers can often be what we call 'burner lines' (patates hat), where it is unclear who they belong to, or this can be done by having a line issued in one's own name. The people who rent the account can commit many different crimes here, and their own traces or identities never appear. Therefore, the person who will be directly punished for the crimes committed is the one who rented out their account."

"THERE ARE THOSE WHO RENT OUT 10 ACCOUNTS TO 10 DIFFERENT PEOPLE"

Stating that some people open accounts at every bank and rent them out with the thought that "nothing will happen to me," Ayboğa said, "There are people who rent out 10 of their accounts to 10 different people, thinking they will earn an average of 20-30 thousand lira when they receive a monthly payment of 2-3 thousand lira. Unfortunately, they realize the seriousness of the situation when a summons arrives from the prosecutor's office."

Touching on how fraudsters use the accounts they rent, Ayboğa said, "For example, they post a vehicle, computer, or chair that does not belong to them on a digital shopping platform at a much more affordable price than it is, and wait for people to reach out. They take a deposit of around 2-3 thousand lira for a 20 thousand lira product. They transfer this to cryptocurrency accounts and foreign exchanges to clean the money. This money stays in their own pockets."

"A SHOE SHINER WAS TRIED WITH A PRISON SENTENCE OF UP TO 180 YEARS"

Pointing out that a client of his who is a shoe shiner also fell into the bank account rental trap, Ayboğa noted the following:

"The shoe shiner who applied to us was defrauded by people who approached him through a friend, saying, 'We are doing very serious business, and we cannot use our accounts due to our tax debt. We will only receive the money from the trade we have done into your account. We will still deduct and pay the tax. We will move this forward in a clean way. You will not experience any problems.' Of course, he gets excited because some money will enter his pocket. An agreement is reached. My shoe shiner client earned 7,000 lira by renting out his two accounts, but 18 files were opened against him for fraud, and he was tried with a prison sentence of up to 180 years. Because in such aggravated fraud crimes, you receive as many sentences as the number of files you have."

Stating that his client was arrested and that serious work was carried out to uncover the fraud gang, but that this was how the person's innocence was proven, Ayboğa said, "Our client was able to be released that way, but unfortunately, he remained in custody for a very long time. He could have received a much more serious sentence."

Ayboğa shared the information, "People who rent out their IBANs can be tried for very different crimes depending on the actions taken by the person renting them. When rented bank accounts are used to facilitate illegal betting, there is a prison sentence of 3 to 5 years, and when used for aggravated fraud, there is a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years."

News Source: AA