Businessman loses more than R$600,000 after falling for fake lawyer scam in Rio Preto

According to the police report, the victim communicated with the suspect through a messaging application. On that occasion, the fake lawyer simulated a court hearing via video call to gain access to the elderly man's company bank account.

The suspect used an unknown number, but placed a photo of one of the company's lawyers on his profile. To convince the victim, the investigator cited the number of a case that the company had filed and sent a false court order. He stated that the businessman had a receivable of approximately R$32,000.

On Wednesday morning, the fake lawyer reported that a prosecutor would conduct a "remote hearing" to release the money and perform "balance protection" on the account to avoid income tax charges. A link was sent to the businessman with the logo of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to join the video call.

As stated in the police record, the dynamics of the fraud involved the use of two methods. During the false hearing, the suspect instructed the businessman to look for his corporate cell phone, used exclusively for the company's financial transactions, and to open the bank application.

Under the pretext of "providing assistance", the man asked the victim to point the camera of the device on which they were both making the video call at the screen of the corporate cell phone. Without any suspicion, the victim followed the instructions and allowed the other person to view the password entry and bank balance.

Believing it to be a security procedure, the businessman was induced to access the PIX area and pay a charge via QR Code. As a result, the transfer of R$620,000 was completed and the money was sent to a bank account (in the name of a CNPJ) with the description of "balance protection".

The crime was discovered when a company employee entered the room, became suspicious of the situation and alerted the businessman. The case was registered as embezzlement at the São José do Rio Preto Flagrant Center.

The victim immediately contacted the bank but was informed that the transaction could no longer be blocked.

The case was registered at the Central de Flagrantes as an embezzlement through electronic fraud and forwarded to the 7th Police District (DP) of Rio Preto, which will try to track the destination of the money and identify the perpetrators of the crime.