A new digital forensic finding has been added to the case file regarding Ferdi Karadoruk, the Istanbul Branch President of the Turkish Association of Active Football Referees and Observers (TFFHGD), who was detained as part of the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the Central Referee Board (MHK).
According to the expert report, it was determined that a video file related to the sexual abuse of children was uploaded via a WhatsApp account verified with the phone number used by Karadoruk. The report stated that this finding is based on report number 184346648 from the U.S. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The NCMEC report included information that the transaction took place via WhatsApp on January 11, 2024, at 17:46, that the account was verified with the phone number belonging to Ferdi Karadoruk, and that the IP address belonging to Karadoruk was used during the transaction.
KARADORUK CLAIMS HE WAS HACKED
It was reported that Karadoruk, who gave a statement as part of the investigation, admitted that he had been using the relevant line for 18 years and that the line was registered in his mother's name. Karadoruk, however, defended himself by claiming that he did not share the content and that his WhatsApp account was seized by third parties in January 2024.
It was noted that Karadoruk submitted screenshots of an email he claimed to have sent to the WhatsApp support unit on January 15, 2024, as the basis for this claim. However, the expert examination concluded that the email titled "Whatsapp Account Blocked! IMPORENT LEVEL!" contained a complaint regarding the account being restricted from access, and did not contain any notification that the account had been stolen or hacked.
The report also pointed out that January 15, 2024, the date Karadoruk contacted the WhatsApp support unit, was the same day the NCMEC report was generated as a PDF.
The report, prepared by Forensic Informatics and HTS Analysis Expert İbrahim Erol, concluded that when the data in the file was examined, no evidence was found to support Karadoruk's claim that the WhatsApp account he was using at the time of the incident had been stolen or hacked by third parties.
News Source: 12punto
