Five teenagers in Turkey are being tried on charges of hacking phones and making bomb threats

Five teenagers in Turkey are being tried on charges of hacking phones and making bomb threats

Five teenagers aged 14-17 in Turkey are facing demands for sentences ranging from 17 to 45 years in prison for endangering aviation security by hacking two girls’ phones and making fake bomb threat reports to airports.

The defendants, residents of various cities across Turkey, became acquainted with two Turkish teenage girls last year through the Discord platform. When the two girls refused the defendants’ demands, they were first threatened, and then the defendants forcibly obtained verification codes for an internet search service from them.

Using the two girls’ phone numbers, the defendants called Adana and Gaziantep airports in Turkey on July 26 and 28, claiming that bombs had been placed on airplanes. Following these calls, two passenger aircraft were moved to secure areas and passengers were evacuated, but it was later determined that the reports were completely false.

After Turkish police identified the source of the calls, the victims filed complaints against the defendants. Digital investigations revealed that the teenagers had threatened the girls to obtain verification codes and made fake reports. They were found to have used voice-changing software to conceal their identities and had even recorded the moments of making the reports for each other.

Broader investigations uncovered that, beyond this case, the group had also accessed personal information and credit cards of other Turkish citizens through unauthorized data panels and had made additional false reports.

Following the completion of the investigation by the İzmir Public Prosecutor’s Office in Turkey, all five defendants were detained; one of them remains under arrest while judicial control measures were imposed on the others.

The indictment prepared for these five Turkish teenagers includes charges such as “production and distribution of obscene content involving children,” “creating fear and panic among the public,” “unauthorized access to personal data,” “collective threat,” “disrupting aircraft movement,” “deprivation of personal liberty,” and “preparation for crime.”

The indictment, which seeks prison sentences of 17 to 45 years for the defendants, has been accepted by the İzmir Juvenile Court in Turkey.