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In this blog post, we will take a look at the cybercrime law in Turkey and how to report online fraud. If you have been a victim of cybercrime in Turkey, it is important to know your rights and the steps you can take to protect yourself and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The Turkish government issued the Cybercrime Law in Turkey, and this was issued with the increasing use of the World Wide Web (Internet) and with the emergence of immoral practices on the Internet. Through messages or hacking that allows the hacker can steal people’s bank accounts and others’ and blackmail them with them, which causes social confusion.
What is electronic fraud
The word fraud refers to the use of any kind of tricks or tricks for an immoral act, and electronic fraud is the game that the fraudster plays in chat rooms or Internet forums that ask the visitor for his information to provide him with a service of some kind or by e-mail (email) or some websites Its mission is to rob the visitor of his information or the secret keys to accounts that carry important information, such as politicians’ information, for example, information pertaining to the country’s national security, or the names of the person’s bank accounts and their passage keys so that he can steal his money. Countries who are punished by penalties related to national security, and the cybercriminal can blackmail politicians, for example, by exposing them with their personal information.Stealing an individual’s personal information and stealing images that may be scandalous images of him, such as images of nudity, for example, and thus the fraudster can blackmail the latter with his information, asking him for huge money transfers.
Cybercrime law in Turkey
According to Articles 243, 244, 245 of the Turkish Penal Code, the Turkish law allows the imposition of the most severe penalties for all crimes related to cybercrime and electronic fraud, and details each penalty according to each crime. The European Union has distinguished between the types of electronic crimes, as the crime of stealing information differs in its punishment from the crime of extortion, and the latter also differs from whether someone’s bank account has been stolen. Below is a breakdown of the aforementioned three articles:
The crime of accessing others information
Article 243 of the Turkish Penal Code states the following:
- Any person who illegally enters or remains in another person’s information system in whole or in part shall be liable to imprisonment for up to one year or a judicial fine.
- If the acts specified in the above paragraph are committed in relation to systems that can be used for a material price, the penalty to be imposed shall be reduced by half.
- In the event that the data contained in the system is destroyed or altered as a result of this act, a prison sentence of six months to two years is imposed.
With Regulation TPC 243 (Turkish Penal Code) in Article 2 of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime entitled “Illegal Access”, each state party to the said regulation must take the necessary legal arrangements and take the necessary measures to criminalize any part of the electronic system that accesses the information of the other in a manner Deliberation, intent, and unfair and unjustified method Through the use of the electronic information assurance system, it is possible to protect the various types of information that the users of that information system pluck from and everyone who benefits from it. The material pillar of the crime is the information system, and in order for this crime to occur, it is necessary to enter the information system illegally And stay in it Crime occurs when two actions occur at the same time The general intention is sufficient for the occurrence of this crime The perpetrator of the crime can be any person and any person can be a victim of a crime whether they are natural or legal persons.
Blocking, destruction or modification of data
Article 244 of the Turkish Penal Code states the following :
- Any person who obstructs or disrupts the operation of another person’s information system shall be liable to imprisonment from one to five years.
- A person who corrupts, damages, alters or makes data in an information system inaccessible and sends the victim’s data that he has controlled to another place shall be sentenced to imprisonment from six months to three years.
- If this act is committed on the electronic system of a bank, credit institution, institution or public institution, the penalty to be imposed shall be doubled by half.
- If the person who obtained an unfair advantage for himself or another person by committing the acts specified in the preceding paragraphs does not constitute another crime, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment from two to six months and a judicial fine of up to five thousand Turkish liras.
With this type of crime, an attempt was made to parallel the “data interference” stipulated in Article 4 of the European Convention on Electronic Crimes and “interference with systems”.provided for in Article 5 of the law. Damage to third party systems is considered a crime, i.e. all actions taken against the victim, such as partial or complete destruction of data or programs in information systems, modification of their functions, prevention of their normal operation and restriction of access to them are organized in general as property damage crimes against people’s electronic systems. The electronic crime is represented by prohibiting the work of an electronic account or system, or the destruction of the account or the system, or that the criminal hacks the victim’s data and sends it to a place where he can benefit from it. For the crime, the perpetrator can be any person who will of course be the owner of the victim’s information system and is the person who has the authority to dispose of the information system that has been subjected to the aforementioned.
Use of bank or credit cards
Article 245 of the Turkish Penal Code states the following :
- Any person who confiscates, keeps or uses another person’s bank card or credit card in any way without the consent of the card holder or the person to whom the card is issued shall be liable to imprisonment from six months to three years and a judicial fine.
- Whoever produces, sells, transfers, buys, or accepts counterfeit bank or credit cards by linking to the bank accounts of others shall be punished with imprisonment from three to seven years and a judicial fine.
- A person who benefits from the use of a fraudulently generated or forged bank card or credit card shall be liable to imprisonment from four to eight years and a fine if the act does not constitute another offense requiring a more severe penalty.
- The offense in the first paragraph:
- A – One of the spouses who did not make a decision to separate from him.
- b- The father, the offspring, or one of his relatives to this degree, the adopter, or the adopted son.
- C – If he commits harm to one of the siblings who live together in the same dwelling, there is no punishment for the relative.
- With regard to the acts that fall within the scope of the first clause, the provisions of this law regarding crimes against assets shall apply
Bank and credit card breaches were considered as an independent type in the cybercrime law in Turkey, and every breach of a bank card or credit card is considered one of the crimes stipulated in Article 245 of the Turkish law
The crimes specified in the previous article can be committed with a general intention, no special features are sought for the perpetrator, and the perpetrator can be any person. This type of crime does not show any advantage to the victim, and any person can also be a victim.
On the other hand, in the Turkish Penal Code, blocking communications or violating the confidentiality of communication, listening, and recording conversations between people, which leads to the violation of private life, recording personal data, and selling or obtaining data illegally, are all crimes punishable by the Cybercrime Law in Turkey, as well as promoting Drugs and stimulants and facilitating their abuse, and any conversation aimed at forming a criminal organization for the purpose of committing crimes, committing atrocities and slander, and alienating the masses from military service or inciting them to disobey Turkish law is considered a crime according to the Cybercrime Law in Turkey, and the victim is punished with imprisonment and financial fines according to his crime.
How to report online fraud in Turkey
Do not buy from such sites. Make sure to compare the market value of the product you are going to buy.
In the face of such a situation that you are a victim of, immediately apply to the nearest police department or the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor for a complaint and file a criminal complaint.
Finally, the Cybercrime Law in Turkey helped the people to live more comfortably and more securely in their use of social networking sites in all its forms, as it enters the Internet about a million people every 60 minutes, and it has guaranteed the rights of bank account and credit card holders to practice their business and activities more freely with care to protect their privacy.
