Duo is arrested for scamming people with fake job interviews and stealing more than R$500,000 in Recife
According to the police, victims were attracted by offers of high salaries. Suspects are from PR and, according to investigations, collected images and personal data to access bank accounts.
By g1 Pernambuco
Two men from PR were arrested in Recife for scamming them with fake job interviews. Victims suffered losses of more than R$500,000, according to police.
Criminals lured victims online with false offers of high salaries and arranged interviews in a coworking room, according to investigations.
During the interviews, victims were induced to provide personal data and an image of their own face, used by criminals to access bank accounts.
Arrests took place on August 6th and September 9th. It is suspected that the duo is part of a gang that operates throughout the country.
Two men from Paraná were arrested for carrying out false job interview scams in Recife. According to the Civil Police, victims were induced to provide personal data and an image of their own face, used by criminals to access their bank accounts. At least four cases were recorded, with losses exceeding R$500,000.
According to delegate Ernesto Novaes, the case came to the attention of the Civil Police on July 31, after a victim filed a police report stating that she had been lured into an alleged interview in a coworking room (see video above). The case is investigated by the Rio Branco Police Station, in the Recife neighborhood, in the city center.
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"A victim had been called to a job interview, and during that job interview they took a selfie of her face, asked her to turn off her cell phone and, from then on, they started the scam, where she ended up losing R$120,000. Our team became aware of the facts, I opened a police investigation, and we started monitoring this situation," he said.
The investigation identified that the gang used information available on social networks aimed at professional relationships, such as LinkedIn, to select victims. They were attracted by job offers with high salaries, up to R$38,000, in addition to benefits.
"The victims were contacted by the criminals, they appeared in these interviews, where they were given an extensive form to be filled out. As a rule, they asked to turn off their cell phones, and from then on, the interviewer claimed that he needed to take a selfie of the victim in order to start the registration. And then, the victim, after turning his device back on, started receiving messages from his financial institution", he stated.
According to the corporation, the prisoners are part of a criminal organization with possible operations in different regions of the country. They were charged with theft through electronic fraud and use of a false document. The corporation is investigating possible operations in other neighborhoods of the capital.
"It's a gang that has been operating across the country, we have already monitored their presence in other neighborhoods here in the city. In just four of these scams that were carried out here in the capital, the damage to the victims already amounts to more than half a million reais", said the delegate.
Delegates Ernesto Novaes and João Leonardo during a press conference — Photo: Vitor Dutra/Disclosure
Flagrant
According to the Civil Police, the first arrest was made on August 6, when investigators identified that the coworking room had been rented again by criminals to carry out the same scam.
This time, the crime did not happen because the victim was suspicious of the request to turn off the cell phone. When he went to the bathroom and checked the device, he found messages from the bank informing him of an attempt to change his password using facial recognition. She left the scene and called the police.
The second arrest took place on September 9, after police officers identified a new location of the same coworking room to carry out false interviews.
As the names of the suspects were not disclosed, it was not possible to verify the results of the custody hearings to find out whether they remain in prison or whether they will be released.
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