13 search and seizure warrants are served in five states against a group suspected of carrying out fraudulent bank transactions.| Photo: Federal Police/disclosure

Thirteen search and seizure warrants were carried out by the Federal Police this Thursday (16) against a criminal group suspected of embezzling more than R$ 1.9 million from bank accounts belonging to city halls in several states.

The Cyber ​​Impetum operation is carried out in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins and São Paulo and in the Federal District, and is the first in the scope of the new Division of Investigation and Special Operations of the corporation. According to the PF, the action is the result of a technical cooperation agreement signed with the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) to repress electronic bank fraud.

According to the PF, investigations point out that the group would have carried out fraudulent operations in January 2022 using “social engineering”, with access and transactions in bank accounts of legal entities, bodies and government entities.

“In addition to the customers who formalized the registration of an illegal occurrence with the financial institution, accesses were also identified, which occurred in the accounts of several other customers who, until now, did not register disputes. Such information indicates that the money diverted by criminals may exceed the amount identified so far,” says the PF statement.

The Federal Police informs that court orders are also being executed for the seizure and blocking of assets and values ​​of the suspects, with the purpose of recovering the misappropriated assets. Crimes of criminal organization, qualified theft through fraud in a cybernetic environment and money laundering are investigated.