One man created a virtual farming app that scammed 132,000 people out of millions of dollars - and then disappeared.
Mehmet Aydın developed Farm Bank (Çiftlik Bank in Turkish), which - on the surface - was a seemingly innocent app where users could run and manage their own farms.
But unlike the popular Facebook game Farmville, Farm Bank had a sneaky twist.
It was actually a pyramid scheme that managed to rake in about $250 million (1.14 billion lira) from users in less than two years.
Advert
Now, the fraudster is facing a total of 89,000 years in prison, according to Turkey's Demirören News Agency (DHA).
Farm Bank launched in 2016 promising players a chance to 'win as they play, and have fun as they win' and encouraged them to invest in what they thought was actual livestock and agricultural land.
So users would spend real money for the upkeep of virtual chickens, sheep, bees and cattle, earning cash back in the game.
Advert
By purchasing things, they could earn gold bars which they believed they could exchange for actual cash.
Back in Turkey, franchisees paid Farm Bank to open shops that sold products like meat and cheese, all branded with the Farm Bank logo - making it seem like the goods came from the company’s livestock. It did not.
At the time, Turkey’s agriculture was struggling so the game seemed like a way to help out the country’s farming industry.
Advert
However, the game was later revealed to be a massive scam and most of the farms Aydın claimed to have were actually inactive.
By 2017, around $250 million was reported to have been invested into the game by users, but problems started popping up when people tried to withdraw their money.
In December 2017, Aydın abruptly sold his shares in the company. A month later, Farm Bank announced it would 'suspend accepting new users' and 'stop paying out profits.'
In March 2018, authorities revealed the app was a scam, and a criminal investigation kicked off.
Advert
The situation escalated into a global manhunt after Aydın fled to Uruguay with tonnes of cash.
He didn’t exactly hide, though as he was spotted 'driving around in a Ferrari.'
Finally, in 2021, he was caught in Sao Paulo, where he was arrested and sent back to Turkey.