Turkish law enforcement officers “uncovered” another financial pyramid in the field of tourism. This time, such a popular brand as Marriott – an international chain of hotels – became a victim of fraudsters, and at least 50 thousand people were deceived by the name of Marriott. Fraudsters worked according to the “Ponzi scheme” – in it, investors believe that they are dealing with real investments in legitimate commercial activities. Still, they are entering a classic “pyramid”, where those who paid first receive dividends at the expense of newcomers.
By the way, our tourists may be among the injured victims because among the detected and arrested fraudsters, according to the Turkish media, there is a group that “paired” cheap hotel reservations in Balikesir, and earlier in Marmaris, using the timeshare method. Ukrainians, who are massively processed by fraudsters of this type, could well be among them.
The affected Turkish citizens, in turn, say that they “became dependent” on the Marriott brand. “The fraudsters lured people into the system they created with the promise of high profits using the Marriott hotel name with an application called the Marriott APP.” “Hundreds of people like me thought that the application was related to the hotel and entered their system,” experts say, citing the victims. The sums, it must be said, are serious, some invested $50-90 thousand with fraudsters, and will also be forced to pay off debts for loans that were taken with the hope of quick enrichment.
In Marmaris, the fraudsters also revealed the following scheme of action – they extorted money from tourists under the pretext of renting hotel rooms in Istanbul, which was then allegedly supposed to be rented out to tourists for a lot of money, and the owner of the room would receive a profit from this, who assure that it was at least 10% from invested funds. So far, 17 victims have been found there, but the victim’s lawyer is sure that there are more.
“We are talking about a typical example of a financial pyramid. We demand that the suspects be punished and arrested at the highest level by taking legal action against them,” she said.