ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish intelligence on Friday announced they had detained a person accused of using artificial intelligence to impersonate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to scam businessmen and officials.
The accused was detained by intelligence forces and is being investigated for fraud, according to state media Anadolu Agency. He reportedly used Erdogan’s voice to instruct officials to transfer large sums of money to him.
According to Anadolu, the accused, identified as Fatih Emre H., called several Turkish officials and businessmen and used phrases such as, “We are performing military operations abroad, we need money, and you can handle it!”
He allegedly carried out the scam using more than 10 different phone numbers registered under the names of foreigners residing in Turkey, but he did not succeed in getting any money.
He is also accused of involvement in several fraud schemes inside Turkey and over the past two years got around 600,000 Turkish liras (about $22,000) from his victims.
Under Turkish law, perpetrators of cybercrimes, which include impersonation and email and internet fraud, could serve up to three years in jail. Insulting the president is also a crime with a sentence of up to four years imprisonment.
