Fındıkoğlu was taken into custody by the police after a four-year chase by the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau. When his computer's password was cracked, the police found that he was in possession of credit card information for 1 million people. One file alone contained the account information for 50,000 US citizens.The investigation, codenamed Virtual Earthquake, targeted Metin C. and Mehmet Ali M., who acted as couriers for Fındıkoğlu and had considerable wealth as well. The police secretly recorded how Metin C. and Mehmet Ali M. withdrew money from ATMs using replicated credit cards. Metin C. used his share to buy a luxury yacht, named "Drunk," worth 150,000 euros, while Mehmet Ali C. purchased a sports BMW motorcycle for $100,000. The police also found that the couriers participated in the grand yacht race held in Bodrum on May 4-8, 2008, with this yacht.
Phone calls by the suspects revealed interesting details. In one phone call, Mehmet Ali M. was too lazy to take a bag containing $400,000 to his house on the second floor, but threw it onto the balcony. Then, he called his mother and said: "Mom, I threw a bag onto the balcony. I will come and pick it up tomorrow."
Fındıkoğlu replaced a Lexus he bought last year from Dubai, saying that its white leather seats tended to become dirty too quickly. The hacker then bought a Range Rover jeep worth $120,000 to replace the Lexus.
US courts have sentenced Fındıkoğlu several times, with sentences totaling 200 years, for the offenses he committed. Last year, the FBI found that Fındıkoğlu had accounts at five banks in the US and that money in these accounts was seized under anti-money laundering legislation.
Fındıkoğlu was planning to make fresh investments in Turkey prior to being apprehended. He bought four apartments in İstanbul's upscale Nişantaşı neighborhood, a villa worth $500,000 in Bodrum and an apartment bloc in Kastamonu, in addition to a Range Rover jeep for his brother, Engin, and spouse, Dilek. He was planning to buy two passenger buses for his brother and set up an animal breeding farm in Kastamonu.
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