Wall Street Wolf Coup caught Brazilians in Portugal – 03/07/2023 – Market

Headquartered in Portugal, an international gang specializing in financial scams against Brazilians was dismantled on Monday (6), in a joint mega-operation between authorities from both countries. Three Brazilians and a Portuguese woman were arrested in Lisbon, and there are other arrest warrants in progress.

Dubbed “Red Diffusion”, the Civil Police operation identified an elaborate fraud scheme heavily inspired by the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, where the protagonist played by Leonardo DiCaprio gets rich with irregular investments and leads an extravagant lifestyle.

The Luso-Brazilian version of the coup used a front company. Officially registered as an advertising and marketing agency, the office actually functioned as a fake financial operator, selling stock exchange investments through fraudulent brokerage agencies.

The company approached the victims through telephone calls, enticing potential customers with offers of huge profits. The fake operator employed “hundreds of Brazilians” and had call centers in four different headquarters. According to the police, the employees were mostly irregular immigrants who, with no other job option, ended up embarking on fraud.

The exclusive hiring of citizens of Brazil also happened because it was mandatory that the attendants spoke “Brazilian Portuguese”, since the potential victims were always on the other side of the Atlantic.

In order not to have the geographic location revealed by the caller IDs, which could raise suspicions about the scheme, the criminals used a program that masked the international number, showing a Brasilia area code (61) instead.

Scammers offered investment options such as Day Trade and Forex, convincing victims to make applications that would supposedly generate high guaranteed returns.

“The deceived victims started to invest in the actions indicated by the criminals, but unlike what was promised, they always lost everything invested”, says the Civil Police, in a note. “Taken by the despair of losses, they were encouraged to make new investments in the hope of reversing the loss. It turns out that the new investments also generated other losses, feeding a snowball.”

In order to increase the appearance of legitimacy of fraudulent investments, the scammers also set up fake websites, creating pages for various fictitious companies. Among those already identified are: Paxton Trade, Ipromarkets, Ventus Inc, Glastrox, Fgmarkets, 555 Markets, ZetaTraders.

“These websites were very well set up, giving the impression of being reputable companies. The victims would register on these pages and then use an application to be able to make the alleged investments”, says the Civil Police.

Investigation showed that these “investments” never made it to the stock market. The money, instead of being applied, was directly diverted to the criminals’ personal accounts. “Victims thought they had lost everything on the stock exchange and many didn’t even know it was a scam.”

At least 945 victims of the scheme have already been identified, but authorities say the real number is much higher.

According to the police, the choice to host the criminal operations in Portugal, but targeting only people in Brazil, was intentional.

“Since they were headquartered in Portugal and all the victims were located only in Brazil, the Portuguese authorities were left with their hands tied, as without victims to prove the allegations, the investigation was hampered”, they say.

The investigation says that the choice to act only with Brazilians was also based on the expectation that the police in Brazil would never be able to reach them. “They knew that if they acted against Portuguese citizens, from other countries of the European Union or from the USA, the operation would have been dismantled more easily.”

The leader of the criminal organization would be a citizen of the Czech Republic residing in Portugal. Even after learning of the investigation, police say the man continued to expand the scheme, “opening another three offices and having more than 150 Brazilians hired.”

The authorities stated that the gang was inspired by the modus operandi reported in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

“The investigation yielded a number of evidences of the sociopathic environment within the company. The figure of Jordan Belfort [protagonista de O Lobo de Wall Street] was venerated. At company parties, there were prizes for the best ‘sellers’ and a great display of wealth. In WhatsApp groups, ‘managers’ encouraged ‘sellers’ to see the film and were systematically induced to the same behavior. The company’s motto was: Think of yourselves and your families, forget the victims'”, says the police.

To disrupt the group’s operations, the Brazilian authorities had the help of the Judiciary Police and the Portuguese SEF (Foreigners and Borders Service).

One of the techniques used by the Civil Police was precisely inspired by the actions of criminals. Police officers also used the software to bypass caller ID and pretend they were calling from Portuguese phone numbers. “This made the company’s employees respond to police calls, at which time they were summoned to provide clarifications via videoconference.”

Based on the testimonies, the Brazilian authorities put together the puzzle of the fraudulent scheme.

In a note, the SEF, Portugal’s immigration body, states that the three Brazilians arrested will be presented to the Court of Appeal in Lisbon for the first judicial interrogation and for the application of measures with a view to extradition.