Unidentified scammers who copied Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Şaban Dişli's official Facebook account deceived people in order to get their money illegally.
The scammers sent friend requests to people who were already friends with Dişli's Facebook account. After people accepted the request they tried to get their hands to people's money by deceiving them with claims that the AK Party will send surprise gift checks to those who are in need during the Islamic festival of Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha.
They also said they will send a SMS to victims' mobile phones and asked them to confirm the SMS to help raise money. Upon realizing the sham on Wednesday night, Dişli's son-in-law released a statement on his Facebook account saying: "AK Party Deputy Chairman Şaban Dişli's official Facebook account has been cloned. These scammers are sending friend requests to people in order to extort money. This cloned account has nothing to do with Dişli himself." It has been also reported that Dişli will file a criminal complaint.