Turkish authorities have arrested 121 people in a nationwide crackdown on illegal betting operations allegedly based on Telegram and other digital platforms. Investigators used an artificial intelligence system created by Istanbul police to find suspects, read encrypted language, and show connections between members of the alleged networks.
Turkey Arrests 169 People in Nationwide AI-Assisted Illegal Betting Raid
The investigation culminated in a coordinated November 3 raid in 39 provinces. Reports released November 7 said police initially went after 194 suspects and arrested 169 people. Court orders that followed put 121 suspects behind bars pending trial. Another 45 were released under judicial supervision and three without restrictions, reported Turkish Minute.
At the heart of the investigation was the AI-powered software, called AVCI, or hunter in Turkish. The open-source intelligence analysis system was developed by Istanbul police to help identify criminal activity across online communication platforms.
The program reportedly uses natural language processing to recognize coded language, slang, and combinations of emojis. These techniques assist investigators in finding conversations that may not appear to be related to illegal gambling.
AVCI can also view photos and videos, link accounts with different names, and establish relationships between suspected members of a network. It can allegedly save messages from closed groups as they come in, so that investigators can save evidence even if users later delete their communications.
Turkey Uncovers $102M Illegal Betting Network in Latest Crackdown
In the latest investigation, the system identified approximately 306,000 potentially incriminating messages in 47 Telegram groups, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported.
One of the individuals was identified as a 21-year-old software developer, thought to be a central player in the network. He was reportedly operating under a Telegram identity that made reference to the British lottery winner Michael Carroll.
The latest crackdown follows a previous investigation in May in which police arrested 108 people in 35 provinces. Authorities used AVCI to review around 600,000 messages before they identified the suspects and their alleged activities.
That operation led to the blocking of 5,151 websites. Among these were 5,000 platforms engaged in illegal betting, 111 promotional websites, and 40 sites said to be processing payments.
Turkish authorities have uncovered another suspected illegal betting operation with significant money flow. A gendarmerie-led probe by Aydın identified 40 suspects whose bank accounts recorded TRY 3.484 billion ($102 million) in transactions.
On November 3, 37 people were detained in raids in 14 provinces. Authorities also imposed precautionary measures on 467 bank accounts, four cryptocurrency accounts and four vehicles. Phones, computers, storage devices and SIM cards were seized during the searches, police said.
Turkey has also been implicated in cases where legitimate sports betting systems have been manipulated. Separately, four suspects were jailed pending trial in October over an alleged scheme involving delayed live sports data. Prosecutors said the operation caused data provider Spordata and licensed sportsbooks to lose some TRY 12 million ($240,000).
Rephrased by The Mystic Gambler