An elderly woman78 years oldwas the victim of a criminal network of São Paulo, specialized in applying banking scams, which made her lose more than R$750,000. According to the Civil Police, three members of the group were arrested this Friday (20) during “Operation Trojan Horse”.
In the action, seven search and seizure warrants were executed at addresses in Osasco, in Greater São Paulo, and in the east zone of the capital. In one of the locations, one of the detainees was found trying to get rid of card machines and cell phones.
At another address, bank cards, cell phones, computers and a vehicle were seized. Furthermore, a suspect was also located and taken to a property in Osasco, where a vehicle and a watch were seized.
How the scam worked
According to investigations, the group would have used a falsified public power of attorney and a false identity document to move funds in the name of the elderly woman, who had been bedridden for five years and was unable to go to the bank.
Police work shows that financial transactions exceeding R$750,000 were carried out, with transfers and withdrawals, in addition to attempted new withdrawals at the time of the approach.
So far, the corporation has identified ten members of the criminal network. Those investigated would have way of working the use of falsified documents and third-party accounts with the dispersion of values. The objective was to give the appearance of legality to transactions.
The targets were located and, after analyzing the seized materials, they were all charged with criminal association and money laundering.
The case was handled by the 24th DP (Ponte Rasa) as compliance with a search and seizure warrant, criminal association, money laundering, embezzlement and promoting, establishing, financing or joining a criminal organization.
According to the SSP (Public Security Secretariat), “efforts continue to identify others involved, since a significant part of the amounts was divided to beneficiaries that have not yet been identified.”
