In an unusual situation, Israeli officials still cannot say with certainty how many Israeli citizens have been arrested in connection with a massive fraud investigation in Turkey. Jerusalem does not even have an estimate of how many of the 201 detainees are Israeli, although Turkish authorities and media have reported that nine Israeli citizens were among those arrested. Turkey says the operation targeted an alleged international forex and cryptocurrency fraud network and involved 201 detainees, including nine people identified by authorities as Israeli nationals.
Sources in Turkey’s Jewish community, however, told ynet that eight of the nine are local Turkish Jews and that it is unclear how many of them also hold Israeli citizenship. The community also believes additional Jews were arrested in the case but do not appear on the list of nine people described in Turkish reports as Israelis.
Arrest of suspects in the Turkey fraud case
Israel has contacted the Turkish authorities and requested an official answer on how many Israeli citizens were arrested and what allegations they face. The detainees themselves have not contacted Israel’s Foreign Ministry, nor have relatives approached the ministry on their behalf.
The Foreign Ministry said it had received reports that Israeli citizens had been detained in Turkey on suspicion of involvement in criminal activity and was “working to ensure that the rights of the Israeli citizens are protected.”
There is concern in Jerusalem that the handling of the case could be influenced by the severe political tensions between Israel and Turkey, particularly given Ankara’s increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Israel in recent years.
Israel expects it could take several days for Turkey to respond formally. Israel currently has no consul physically stationed in Turkey, with consular affairs handled from a third country, meaning communication between officials is largely conducted remotely.
So far, Jerusalem’s public response has been considerably more restrained than the tone of some Turkish coverage. The Foreign Ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations against the suspects and has focused instead on ensuring their legal and consular rights.
The Turkish framing
The affair erupted Friday when Turkish authorities announced what they described as a major international investment fraud investigation and emphasized alleged Israeli links to the network.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan subsequently lashed out at Israel in a post on X, accusing what he called the “Zionist massacre network” of seeking to undermine Turkey and declaring that his government would cut off the resources of what he described as enemies benefiting from the “terror industry.”
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According to Turkish authorities, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, working with the National Intelligence Organization, or MIT, police and Interpol, carried out raids at hundreds of addresses in Istanbul and Muğla. The detention count later rose to 201. Turkish officials said the investigation focused on dozens of call centers and financial offices connected to companies allegedly offering fraudulent forex and cryptocurrency investments.
Turkish prosecutors allege that the operation lured victims through social media advertisements and websites promising high returns. Turkish reporting says the alleged scheme generated approximately 13 billion Turkish liras in transaction volume over two years, while prosecutors have also alleged that losses to victims worldwide exceeded $3 billion.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Israeli-linked figures were prominent among the alleged owners and beneficiaries of the operation. Turkish media subsequently published names of nine people described as Israeli citizens.
But according to the Jewish community sources who spoke to ynet, at least some of those people are Turkish-born Jews, some of whom may hold dual citizenship while others may not be Israeli citizens at all.
That distinction complicates the national framing adopted by parts of the Turkish media, which have presented the investigation as an Israeli operation inside Turkey.
Yeni Şafak, a newspaper closely aligned with Erdogan’s government, went further, publishing a headline describing the alleged network as a “Mossad fraud ring” and asserting links to Israeli intelligence. The report did not publicly provide evidence establishing such a connection.
The uncertainty over the suspects’ citizenship also leaves Israel with little ability at this stage to determine who may be entitled to consular assistance.
Israeli officials are particularly concerned that the suspects’ Israeli or Jewish identities could become part of the political narrative surrounding the case. At present, however, there is no public evidence that Turkish courts have treated the detainees differently because of their nationality or religion.
The allegations in Turkey
According to Turkish reports, the alleged fraud network recruited potential clients through advertisements on social media and websites that promised high returns from foreign currency and cryptocurrency investments.
People who expressed interest were allegedly transferred to representatives who spoke their native languages and persuaded them to deposit relatively small amounts at first.
They were then shown purported profits on trading platforms and encouraged to transfer increasingly large sums.
When investors tried to withdraw their money, prosecutors allege, they were told that their accounts had been blocked and that they needed to pay additional amounts described as taxes, fees or payments to unlock the funds.
The money was allegedly never invested as promised and was instead transferred to bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets controlled by the network outside Turkey. Turkish officials say hundreds of complaints collected through international law enforcement channels formed part of the investigation.
Turkish prosecutors also claim that those running the operation instructed employees not to target Israeli or American citizens. According to findings attributed to MIT, Israeli-linked operators shifted activity abroad after Israel banned the sale of binary options to overseas customers in 2017.
Turkish authorities have not provided a detailed public breakdown establishing the individual roles of each foreign detainee.
The latest official figures cited by Turkey say nine detainees are Israeli citizens and 11 are Pakistani, alongside nationals of Azerbaijan, Syria, Jordan, Ukraine, Thailand, Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Iran, China, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Mexico, Egypt, Mozambique, Argentina and Bangladesh.
For now, that leaves Jerusalem waiting for Ankara to answer the most basic questions: exactly who is being held, which of them are actually Israeli citizens and what each individual is suspected of doing.