25.07.2025 16:33
S.E., who has been running a grocery store in the same neighborhood in Adana for 30 years, defrauded local residents with the promise of profits from wholesale food trade. The suspect allegedly disappeared with millions of lira after collecting gold, cash, and bank cards from the citizens. One of the victims stated, "My own brother would do something like this, but this person would never; we trusted him so much."
According to allegations, S.E., who has been running a grocery store in the Dağlıoğlu neighborhood of Seyhan district in Adana for about 30 years, claimed to have been wholesaling essential food products such as rice, bulgur, soft drinks, and oil to the locals. S.E. promised the citizens who came that they could partner in this business and share the profits to earn together.
GOLD, MONEY, BANK CARD... Having gained trust in the neighborhood due to his long-standing business, S.E. began to collect bank cards, jewelry, and cash from some customers to shop on their behalf. In the beginning, S.E. paid profit shares to his customers, establishing trust. He continued this system for months by also increasing the credit card limits of the people he shopped for. On the other hand, it was also claimed that S.E. sold a house to a couple living in the neighborhood but did not complete the title deed transactions.
DISAPPEARED S.E., who collected a large amount of money from many people, closed his business and disappeared at the beginning of July. Moments when S.E. got into a vehicle and left the neighborhood for the last time were captured by a security camera of a house. Realizing they had been defrauded, the locals went to the police to file a complaint. Following the report, teams started working to capture S.E. Meanwhile, 15 people who gathered in front of S.E.'s workplace made a press statement.
"HE TOOK EVERYTHING EVERYONE HAD AND RAN AWAY" Özgür Dinler, who said he gave S.E. 91 grams of gold and 60,000 TL in cash, stated that all his savings were gone. Dinler said, "The owner of the grocery store asked for our credit cards under pretexts like 'I will buy sugar, I will buy cigarettes' and promised various things by increasing our limits. However, he later disappeared, defrauding many people. He took all my savings and ran away. When we went to express our grievances to his relatives, they reported us to the police. His relatives are not helping at all. There are many people here who are victims. There are people who cannot bring bread home. He took everything from almost every house in the neighborhood and ran away," he said.
"MY OWN BROTHER WOULD DO IT, HE WOULDN'T" Serhan Direk, a tradesman who has known S.E. for 40 years, said he trusted him very much before the incident occurred, thinking he would never do such a thing, stating, "This person is someone we have known for 30 years, he is a family friend. We have never had any problems until today. My own brother would do such a thing, but this person would never do it; we trusted him that much. He came to me and said, 'Let your gold and money stay with me,' and took them as a deposit. But now we are trying to reach him, but we cannot find him. His friends and relatives are not supporting him either. He left his wife and children in the neighborhood and ran away. He defrauded many people in the neighborhood; as far as I know, he defrauded 70-80 people. We want this incident to come to light. We are waiting for help from the authorities, demanding that the person be found. We are under great stress, a lot of our money is gone. He disappeared with the money he took from the whole neighborhood and his relatives," he said.
"SOLD A HOUSE BUT DID NOT COMPLETE THE TITLE DEED TRANSACTIONS" Rabia Özçelik from the neighborhood stated that she and her husband agreed to buy a house in the neighborhood from S.E. for 2 million TL. Özçelik, who said her husband handed the money in cash, expressed, "The seller kept us waiting by saying he would complete the title deed transactions, saying 'We will finish it today or tomorrow,' and then took our money and disappeared."