29.10.2026 18:42
In Diyarbakır, fraudsters posing as police convinced a 70-year-old woman with detailed information about her family. The woman found 1 kilogram 200 grams of gold that her daughter had hidden at home without her knowledge and handed it over to the suspect who came to the door at the fraudsters' direction. The suspects were arrested, while the investigation into the fate of the gold continues. It emerged that the woman had also been subjected to phone fraud in 2017.
In Diyarbakır, fraudsters posing as police officers convinced a 70-year-old woman by telling her even her family’s lineage, took 1 kilogram 200 grams of gold directly from her, and disappeared. The individuals were caught and arrested as a result of police work, while the process regarding the fate of the gold continues.
The 70-year-old woman living in Diyarbakır became the target of fraudsters posing as police. The fraudsters listed information about the family to convince the woman. The elderly woman was convinced when she heard detailed information about her family from the fraudsters. The elderly woman, who was unaware of the 1 kilogram 200 grams of gold in the house, handed the gold to the individuals with her own hands at the direction of the fraudsters who had obtained that information.
The woman’s daughter Esma Aslan, a healthcare worker, learned of the incident after her aunt said that she had been unable to reach her sister by phone for a long time and that the line was constantly busy. The individuals were identified, caught, and arrested following a complaint. Work regarding the fate of the gold continues.
Esma Aslan said that the incident happened on the morning of October 14 and that someone or some people who knew her mother was alone at home called her mother. Noting that she was at work at the time, Aslan said, “I am a public healthcare worker. They call my mother and state that they are police from Kayapınar Police Station. At first my mother does not believe it. They say a number of things to convince her; they give our family identity details, explain them one by one, and my mother says that is correct. They say, ‘Believe us, we are police officers, auntie; you don’t believe that we are police. In 2017 you were once the victim of a fraud incident. In 2017 you lost your ID card in Istanbul. Isn’t that right?’ Of course, my mother has each item confirmed. My mother says it is correct. ‘One of your daughters is a teacher named so-and-so; one daughter, Esma Aslan, works in a public institution, at the Ministry of Health, on such-and-such floor, in such-and-such unit.’ They even tell her the floor and unit where I work. This person is someone who knows us, especially someone who knows me. When my mother confirms it, they say, ‘Look, auntie, you can trust us; we are police officers.’ When my mother says, ‘Well, what do you want from me?’ they say, ‘We are currently in an operation as the police. We have surrounded the complex. With your ID card that was lost in 2017, fraudsters—a husband and wife fraudster, a woman named Zeynep—went and defrauded jewelers. They dropped your ID card. We looked and saw that the ID contains your information. However, we know the photo is not yours. We absolutely are not putting you under suspicion, auntie. You are innocent.’ Of course, my mother’s voice changes. Naturally, they frighten her in some way,” she said.
THEY MADE HER FIND THE GOLD IN HER DAUGHTER’S WARDROBE
Aslan, saying that the fraudsters did not allow her mother to call her, said, “They say your daughter Esma Aslan is at the hospital, she is working right now. My mother says that is correct. Look, auntie, because we as the police have surrounded the area right now, we will prove your innocence. We know that this ID does not belong to you, that these people are not you. My mother says, what do you want from me? Auntie, recently your daughter bought a large amount of gold, she sold her house. They even told her that I had sold the house for 5.5 million. My mother says that is correct. So the girl sold her house and her car with all her savings, with all her savings. Within these three or four months she kept going to jewelers and bought a large amount of gold. My mother says, I have no knowledge of buying gold. They say, yes, yes, auntie. We also checked her bank accounts. There is no gold account at the bank at all. Esma also bought a large amount of gold. Probably this is someone who put the phone under technical surveillance with spyware, or someone who knows me. She bought gold, physical gold, and put it in the house. My mother says, I have no knowledge of buying gold. All right, auntie, you personally do what we say; they give instructions, direct her one by one. At the end they tell my mother to take a look in the room where Esma sleeps. My mother says, she does not have a private room of her own. They say, go on, go on. So where does she sleep? My mother says, my daughter sleeps on a floor mattress, as you know. Then go to your daughter’s wardrobe. See whichever room it is in. They direct my mother to that room. Auntie, look in one of Esma’s wardrobes, rummage through the middle, check the drawers. And indeed, the day before, we had gone to the theater. I had ten-gram bracelets and a name tag on me. That morning I left them inside the drawer and left the house. Have faith in God. I had left the ten-gram bracelets that morning, and some from that evening. In the morning I also left my name tag. I said I work at the hospital, it can cause infection, I had better take it off. They have my mother confirm that. They ask what else is in the room? A bed base. My mother says a storage cupboard; they say look under the bed base, look above, but especially look at a vest and look up above. They have my mother look in the storage cupboard. Yes, my mother says, there is a bag. Bring the bag down, auntie. What is in the bag? My mother says there are boxes in the bag. ‘All right, auntie, those are the boxes. The gold Esma bought is in those boxes. Open those boxes. What is inside them?’ Since they did not yet know what was in them, my mother says there are bracelets and so on inside. ‘All right, auntie, take those bracelets out of their boxes one by one right now. Wipe all of them with a wet wipe. The aim is that, since we are in an operation, your fingerprints should not come out either. We will send two members of the police up. In particular, a plainclothes police officer is coming up to the door. Leave it quietly in a bag, do not make a sound, absolutely do not call anyone, and leave the phone out in the open. We will be in contact with you at all times.’ The suspect who comes to the door says he is police. ‘The police officer has come to the door, you open the door, auntie,’ they say. He will not knock, you will open the door. Because these clever ones know that if he knocks, fingerprints will also come out,” she said.
SHE GAVE THE BAG FULL OF GOLD TO THE PERSON AT THE DOOR
Noting that these were very clever and very professional fraudsters, Aslan said, “My mother opens the door. My mother says, first I look through the peephole. She says, I looked and his appearance did not really give me the impression that he was a police officer. She says, I tell the person on the phone, this is not a police officer, meaning, if you will excuse me, he is the type we in Diyarbakır call a street punk. She said, police officers would not be dressed like this. Auntie, we are members of the police. We already go into those disguises so that we can catch suspects and criminals and so on. We enter that disguise so that no one suspects, so that the public does not suspect. My mother, just as it was, hands the person at the door a bag full of gold, 1 kilogram 200 grams of 22-karat gold. Someone else is keeping watch inside the apartment building. My mother notices that too. He is keeping watch, and he walks out of the apartment building swinging his arms and legs. And after my mother gives the gold, they say stay in contact. At 12 o’clock, around 09:36, they call my mother. The phone is already under the prosecutor’s control. The prosecutor’s office is following them. At that time they call my mother, and a 3-4 hour phone traffic continues. My mother says she received the gold around 12 o’clock. They said, auntie, we will take the gold now; downstairs are the suspects, so-called husband-and-wife suspects. They are inside the vehicle. Auntie, we will take them, let’s see. We will determine whether these are the golds they stole. My mother says—she says after the golds were gone, they called me. They said, 'Auntie, this was really your daughter’s sweat of her brow, her honest money. These are not those golds; they are not the golds these thieves stole. I will personally bring them to my aunt and hand them over,' he said. 'Do not hang up your phone,' he said. I was at work. My aunt called me from Kocaeli; it was around 12:00. 'My dear,' she said, 'I have been calling your mother for hours; no one answers the phone. It is always busy, constantly busy,' she said. 'You check,' she said. 'Zekiye abla, your mother does not meet or talk with that many people. Your mother’s calls last 1–2 minutes. Those who really know my mother know this well.' I hung up and said, 'Auntie, I am busy, I am taking care of patients. Today is Wednesday; today is a very busy day. I will call you again later,' I said. Then, around 13:38, my aunt called me again. 'My dear,' she said, 'honestly, this situation seems different,' she said. 'I am calling your mother every five or ten minutes. Again always busy, always busy. Bad things are coming to my mind. I hope what happened to her in 2017 has not happened again,' she said. 'Okay, hang up now, auntie,' I said. Of course, our institution’s administrative supervisor and nurse colleagues were sitting with me. I immediately grabbed the phone and called my mother. As soon as I called, it connected. My aunt had called a minute earlier and it was busy. So the ringleaders of the network were on the other end of the line. Because they had said, 'We will be in contact with you until 14:00–16:00.' As soon as my mother said hello, I noticed her voice sounded bad. 'Mother,' I said, 'who have you been talking to for hours?' I said. 'My aunt has been trying to reach you,' I said, 'she cannot reach you.' I saw that her voice was tearful. First I said, God forbid, we have been hearing a lot of news of siblings’ deaths in recent years, or my brother is sick in prison. I wondered whether she had received something bad or some news about him. 'No, no,' she said, 'it is not bad news.' I said, 'Are you at home now?' 'Yes,' she said. 'Well,' I said, 'then why can’t my aunt reach you? Look, I called immediately and you answered right away.' She said, 'Don’t ask, don’t ask.' Of course, with a tearful, bad tone of voice and psychology, she said, 'My dear, I personally handed your 14 years of labor, that sweat of your brow, that honest earnings, with my own hands, to the scammers who came to the door,' and I already got angry. I hung up in her face. I informed my aunt and my sister. I said, 'You try to reach her. [I will go] to the security authorities as soon as I get out of the hospital,' she said.
SUSPECTS ARRESTED
Aslan, who stated that she immediately informed her sister, said, 'She is also a teacher. As soon as she informs her, she immediately goes and calls my mother. She calls the security authorities. She takes my mother and together they go to the Alişan Police Station in Kayapınar. They take my mother’s statement. Our officials on duty at the public security police, at the Public Security Branch Directorate, immediately begin working. Thank God, they really worked very well. May God be pleased with them. Within 24 hours, they reach footage of two suspects identified from nearby cameras. It is already visible that the suspects came out of the apartment building swinging their arms and handed the bag full of gold to each other. Then they go to the back, swinging the bag. We filed a complaint that day. I also hired a lawyer. The matter was referred to the prosecutor’s office. Those suspects were already arrested. I later learned that one more person had been arrested. The officials at the Public Security Branch Directorate told us that the third suspect had also been arrested. So it is clear that these are a large network. The security authorities are currently not saying anything at all about the golds; they are not telling us anything. As you will appreciate, these matters are carried out within a framework of confidentiality. The investigation continues with the prosecutor’s permission. Let’s see, I am waiting. In my opinion, this is not something that would involve three or five people. To me, this is a large network,' she stated.
SHE WAS ALSO SCAMMED IN 2017
Referring to the fact that her mother’s first fraud story took place in 2017, Aslan said, 'At that time, there was also telephone fraud. In order to call my mother and convince her, they again knew which public institution I worked at. At that time I was working at Dicle University. Until I was appointed, I was working as a nurse under a service procurement contract. They were even saying this. They were also saying that my sister was a teacher. They knew everything, even that her two sons were in prison. They were giving very convincing information. When they also told her all our information in the population records one by one, my mother believed them. Then they said to my mother, 'Your son is innocent. He was thrown into prison for no reason. We want to save him. We will take his file to appeal, to the Court of Cassation. You can trust us for that.' There was an amount of money in my mother’s account—21 thousand, I don’t remember exactly—some amount like that. This was loan money. Supposedly my mother was going to pay off that loan. The scammers called my mother and explained the situation. They said, 'Auntie, transfer the money in your account to us. We will hire a lawyer for your son, send his file to the Court of Cassation, to appeal. We will prove your son’s innocence.' That day my mother was also going to appear before a health board at Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital. These people tired my mother out quite a bit. At one point they even said to my mother, 'Auntie, you have diabetes. Go under a tree; don’t let the sun hit you.' Because this incident happened on June 26 or 27, 2017. So they even knew my mother’s illness. For this reason, I definitely think there is someone familiar involved in this. My mother is now 70 years old. At that time I also reached out to Müge Anlı. In 2017, my turn somehow never came. When Ms. Müge Anlı called me six or seven months later, we had already caught the suspects and recovered the money. I told her, 'We recovered the money; the suspects were caught.' She was even surprised. She asked, 'How?' She said, 'Was it Diyarbakır Public Security?' I said, 'No, it would be more accurate to call this Esma Public Security.' Because over the internet, if you will excuse the expression, I had found the phone numbers, Facebook addresses, internet addresses, and photos of those vulgar and despicable people. One of the suspects was working at an internet café in Bakırköy. The other was driving a taxi. Through my contact with Müge Anlı, I was constantly sending them the information I found. Since I kept sending this information, apparently the network’s members began to panic. They probably thought, 'Oh no, what will happen if this woman appears on Müge Anlı? If the security officials who watch Müge Anlı’s program look through a needle’s eye, they will catch them.' Because it was their first incident, they called us and said they would send the money back. In the end, the money was returned to our account,' she said.
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