Multiple victims have accused known Turkish scammers Erkan Sutculer and Yuliz Obergfell of committing massive credit card theft by withdrawing funds for services they never provided.
Sutculer and Obergfell operate a series of pop-up scam shops such as Skillfront, Scrum Institute, and the International Organization for Project Management, offering various fake personal and professional credentials. Such scam credentials include instant MBA degrees, non-accredited Scrum Master certificates, and a generic “Accredited Professional Certification.” During a sting operation run by Oxebridge, the Skillfront couple issued one of the latter certificates to a dog. In another case, Obergfell signed a certificate for “Richard Chickentoss,” a fictional character from the TV series Toast of London. At no time did Sutculer or Obergfell verify the actual credentials of the persons applying for their credentials.
Erkan Sutculer (l), Yuliz Obergfell (r)
The two then used Photoshop to create fake industry testimonials from companies like Yahoo, Bloomberg, Forbes, and The Guardian. Despite Oxebridge’s reporting on the scammers since 2021, neither Turkish nor Swiss law regulators have stepped in to stop the scams.
Other fake companies Sutculer and Obergfell operate include International Scrum Institute, International Six Sigma Institute, International DevOps Certification Academy, International Software Test Institute, and the International MBA Institute.
The couple has no formal educational authority to issue university degrees, making them “diploma mill” operators.
International Credit Card Fraud
Now, Sutculer and Obergfell may find themselves in a more dire predicament, as multiple whistleblowers have come forward, indicating that the two have stolen funds from credit cards, claiming the transactions for credentials the victims never actually purchased. In one case, a victim from Morocco claimed to have had over $1,100 stolen from their card for training programs they never purchased. When challenged, Yeliz Obergfell used Photoshop to create false test documents with the victim’s name on them, including fabricated test scores, to justify the payment.
In another case, two victims lost funds when they applied for Project Management credentials. Sutculer and Obergfell promised the victims that the credentials were “accredited,” but then refused to provide any evidence of this when challenged. Despite its certificates using the word “accredited,” Skillfront has no third-party accreditations and simply claims self-accreditation.
Under Turkish law, the credit card theft would rise to grand larceny and come with a mandatory prison sentence if the couple were found guilty. It is not clear where the two currently reside, however, as their last known residence was in Switzerland.
Scamming US Veterans
Some of the classes at the couple’s International Scrum Institute cost hundreds of dollars each. The websites then boast testimonials from various people from LinkedIn, most of whom are from third-world countries, but who appear to include a few US military personnel. Oxebridge has reached out to the people named to see if their images were used with permission.
At one point, Sutculer and Obergfell partnered with a US-based Veterans’ organization run by retired USMC Captain Nelson Varas. Through the “Veterans & Youth Career Collaborative” (VYCC), Varas collaborated to sell Skillfront project management certificates. When confronted about the scams, Varas silently removed the content and then shut down the VYCC organization entirely. He never responded to questions about his involvement in the fraud, and now claims to be retired.
It is not clear how many victims of the couple’s credit card ripoff scams have been affected, but it is suspected that victims in multiple countries are involved.
