On Sunday, 7th of May 2023, twenty-three people were arrested in four states (Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Espírito Santo, and Santa Catarina) due to the “winning ticket” scam, more known as “golpe do bilhete premiado”. The “winning ticket” scam usually happens when a scammer pretends to be a person of a lesser financial condition, says that he or she has won a lottery ticket, and asks for help to pay an amount to rescue the fake prize. Multiple times, the ticket scammers convince their victims to give them money or valuable objects in exchange for the ticket itself, often aided by others who confirm the ticket’s money is authentic.
As said by the Civil Police of Rio Grande do Sul, twenty-one victims were identified, and their total loss added up to almost eight thousand reais. Before the beginning of the official operation, the forecast for search and seizure and arrest warrants would be carried out in the cities of Passo do Fundo, Caxias do Sul, and Farroupilha, in Rio Grande do Sul; Balneário Camboriú, Itajaí, and Camboriú in Santa Catarina; Pinhais, São José dos Pinhais, and Colombo, in Paraná; in addition to Vila Velha, in Espírito Santo.
According to delegate Luciane Bertoletti, embezzlers even have “schools” where they teach those interested in committing the crime. According to her, as stated by the newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo,” the scam “consists of making the victim. Usually, an elderly person believes that he/she is facing an opportunity to become a millionaire and is convinced by the criminals.”
Preventative measures to take in order to avoid being scammed include: checking the information on the ticket to know if it (and the prize it holds) is accurate, avoiding believing in rewards or gratification promised by strangers, and being careful with strangers who are trying to distract possible victims! Stay safe!
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