Turkish citizens detained in Georgia for cell network fraud

Georgian investigative bodies arrested two members of an international criminal group accused of illegally accessing a computer system and changing the computer’s data, resulting in the significant loss of income for the state and local cellular companies.

Turkish citizens Hussein Erhan Erguj and Aziz Erguj, who are believed to be members of an international criminal ring, were arrested by Georgia’s Investigation Department of the Ministry of Finance with collaboration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Investigation Department claimed the two men had installed signal receiver devices throughout Georgia’s capital city Tbilisi without the appropriate registration or authority to do so.

It is claimed these devices converted international phone calls into local calls, which were then delivered to the subscribers of local communications companies as a local call, therefore cutting out the large cost of international calls.

As a result of investigative activities, Georgian investigative bodies discovered special equipment, so-called SIM boxes, special transmitter antennas, computer hardware and tens of thousands of SIM cards.

The two accused were located on Georgian territory and were arrested on the charge of property damage through fraud, unlawful access to computer systems and information tampering, said the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Finance.

Through this method of fraud, cellular companies operating in Georgia and the state budget experienced a significant loss of funds, said the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Finance said.

The investigation is continuing under Article 185, 284 and 286 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which envisages a prison sentence of six years.