Police estimate that more than 140 people were victims of scammers who lost R$37 million to an elderly woman

Retiree loses R$37 million in scam by fake investment platform in RS The Civil Police estimates that at least 140 people may have been victims of a fraud similar to the one that caused a loss of R$37 million to a retiree in Rio Grande do Sul. The information was released this Thursday (13), during Operation Criptoabate, which investigates a criminal organization suspected of embezzlement through electronic fraud and money laundering. According to the investigation, the possible victims are spread across Brazil and were identified in digital environments linked to the same dynamics as the scam. The fraud is known internationally as "pig butchering", or "pig slaughter scam". ? Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp The operation complied with 90 court orders in three states. Among those arrested, according to the police, are three owners of financial institutions that operate conversion to cryptocurrency. Two foreigners were also arrested. One of them, according to the investigation, is the owner of one of the financial institutions investigated. Another prisoner is a manager of a traditional financial institution with great national and international credibility. According to the Civil Police, she was responsible for facilitating the opening of accounts operated by the criminal group. The suspects' names were not released. These accounts would have been used to receive and disperse, in a first layer, the amounts transferred by the victim. Then, according to the investigation, the money was distributed to other companies and converted into cryptoactives. The main victim is a retiree. According to the head of the Cybercrime Department, delegate Eibert Moreira, the R$37 million she lost came from an inheritance. The delegate stated that the woman liked to make investments and had an aggressive profile, with a preference for higher-yield assets. She had an investment broker, who advised against making large investments in risky investments. Even so, according to the police, the victim withdrew the funds he kept in a regular brokerage and transferred the money to a fake platform. The coup was built, according to the police, over six months. The investigation points out that one of the financial institutions investigated transferred, in a single day, R$295 million in conversion to cryptocurrency. The police also identified a company in the state of São Paulo with an atypical turnover of R$500 million during the period investigated. In total, suspicious transactions carried out by those investigated amount to R$30 billion. According to the Civil Police, Operation Criptoabate is part of a strategy by the State Department for the Suppression of Cybercrimes (DERCC) to hold all members of the structures used in electronic fraud accountable. According to the police, those investigated pretended to be employees of a company identified as TDASX, which closed after the investigations began. g1 tried to contact those responsible for TDASX, but had not located them until the last update of the report. The police's guidance is to be wary of promises of profitability far above the market, platforms without verifiable credentials and requests for new deposits to release amounts that would have already been invested. Retired woman loses R$37 million in fake investment platform scam; police carry out operation in RS and SP Civil Police VIDEOS: Everything about RS