Ministry of Commerce warns about investment consultancy and promise of high profits

Fake videos circulated on digital platforms using artificial intelligence tools, and posts made to give the impression that investment advice is being given by people who have established trust in the public, are defined as fraud attempts.

There has been an increase in complaints made to the Ministry of Trade due to losses incurred due to trust in such posts.

The Ministry of Commerce continues to combat such misleading advertising and unfair commercial practices targeting consumers within the scope of the legislation for which it is responsible.

SUBJECT OF COMPLAINT APPLICATION

The Ministry listed the statements in the complaint applications as follows:

• Promises of high profits are made under the name of investment consultancy,

• It was given the impression that FOREX , public offering and crypto asset investments were made,

• Names and logos of public institutions and international investment organizations are used,

• Foreign-origin telephone numbers, websites and mobile applications, names, photographs and videos of public figures are used in artificial intelligence-generated advertisements and advertisements,

• In advertisements and announcements placed on various social media or other channels, there are statements that detailed information is provided on social messaging platforms,

• People introducing themselves as investment consultants on social messaging platforms suggested depositing money into shared account numbers,

• It was stated that although small amounts of benefit were provided at first, people were later asked to deposit larger amounts of money, and people were even encouraged to use loans for this purpose.

WARNINGS TO CONSUMERS AGAINST CYBER THREATS

The Ministry of Commerce drew attention to the following issues in order to avoid being exposed to such investment scams:

• Be careful about suspicious phone calls and social media content,

• Not taking into consideration any requests to deposit money into any account,

• In case of being a victim, it is important to report the incident to the relevant Institutions by stating the IBAN number of the accounts to which money is requested, or the telephone number or website information used for contact.