"I Don't Speak Turkish" - How to Defeat Turkish Phone Scammers With One English Phrase

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 4 October 2021)

If only Oya hanım had said "I don't speak Turkish", her

scammer would have had to find another pigeon.  

Murat Erkek (18), identifying himself in a phone call as a policeman, 

scammed Oya U. (73) out of 300,000 TL (about $33,000) worth of gold 

and cash.  Oya hanım's neighbors were suspicious of her long phone 

conversation and called the real police.  However (!), when the police 

arrived at Oya hanım's home she wouldn't let them in, telling the phone

scammer Erkek "I don't recognize the people who have come.  Should 

I open the door?"

Oya hanım lives in Üsküdar, Istanbul, and last Tuesday her phone rang,

with the caller telling her that he was a policeman and that the money

in her bank account was being used by a terrorist organization, so until

the police investigation concluded she should give all her money and 

gold to him.  

In a panic, Oya hanım delivered 300,000 TL worth of gold and cash to

an individual who came to her home.  Her neighbors, though, grew 

suspicious of her extended phone conversation so they summoned the

real police.  But when they arrived, Oya hanım took Erkek's advice 

and wouldn't let them in for quite a while.  After intense efforts by the

police to convince Oya hanım of the real situation, she realized she had

been duped and filed a complaint. 

Police looked at video surveillance to determine that the scammer was

Erkek, who had made off to Adana with Oya hanım's gold and cash. 

Nevertheless, Erkek was arrested in Adana and brought back to Istanbul.

The gold and cash were returned to Oya hanım and Erkek was jailed.