Police search cryptocurrency trading firm after Turks say they were scammed – Reuters

Police search cryptocurrency trading firm after Turks say they were scammed – Reuters

Police searched the headquarters of a cryptocurrency trading platform provider in Istanbul on Thursday, after thousands of Turks filed criminal complaints against the company saying they had been scammed and were unable to access their accounts.The Thodex cryptocurrency trading platform, which had been handling daily cryptocurrency trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars, said on its website on Thursday it would be closed for four to five days due to a sale process.But users who have not been able to withdraw money or access their accounts voiced concern on Twitter that they may have been defrauded, in comments widely picked up by Turkish media.Istanbul police said the company's founder and CEO Faruk Fatih Ozer had flown to the Albanian capital Tirana on Tuesday.The financial crimes investigation board MASAK blocked the company's accounts on Wednesday and began an investigation, a MASAK source said.Thodex said that "negative" media reports about it were untrue, and that banks and funds - which it would identify later - wanted to invest in the company and had proposed a partnership."For this process to be completed, transactions need to be halted and the sale process needs to be completed," it said in a statement on its website.Thodex