A deceptive investment scheme exploits unwary investors through false promises.

The Instagram post catches the eye because it offers the unwary the promise of immediate prosperity. All you have to do is register with the “broker” and buy Tesla shares. To start trading, someone contacts you from a number whose prefix traces back to Montevideo, Uruguayan capital. However, the representative, who is of Japanese origin, claims to be in Mexico City. She convinces you to fill out the registration form and transfer the initial investment amount of US$ 250. Ninety days later, the unwary investor is promised a return of US$ 7,500, thirty times more. It’s tempting!

Once the transaction is complete, another person contacts him from a number with a Paraíba State (Brazil) area code, reiterating that they are in the office in the Mexican capital. She describes the solidity of the company, which has been in the stock market for over twenty years and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. The website can be accessed in four languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, and, strangely, Arabic. Nothing in Hebrew. Who in Israel would do something like this?!

The business platform is complicated. Each question is met with an evasive answer, which makes no sense given the graphs and figures presented. It seems like a creation designed to deceive someone. The third contact, a smooth-talking Brazilian with a Rio de Janeiro accent, presents his resume as a Yale-educated broker working in Mexico. Using convincing arguments, broker Castañeda (yes, really!) manages to extort five thousand dollars from the poor unsuspecting victim caught in the net. The promise is to double the amount invested in three months with Tesla and NVidia shares, and the infamous Bitcoin.

After fifteen days, the numbers on the graph are negative, despite Castañeda swearing to significant gains. The brokerage firm claims to have added five thousand dollars to the account, increasing profits. If there is a “profit,” the unwary will redeem the five thousand invested. But that will not be the case. If there is a loss, only the unwary will lose.

Another fifteen days pass and the broker begs the unwary investor for another five thousand, promising a two hundred percent return and monthly withdrawals of five thousand dollars. It sounds like a dream! However, the unwary investor resists the advances. Castañeda even calls him “stupid” for not buying Russian gas shares, taking advantage of the war against Ukraine to make a profit. 

The Awakening… belated

Upon realizing the scam, the unwary investor wakes up to reality and requests a refund of at least three thousand dollars. The broker insists, and the investments prove disastrous according to the brokerage’s “reliable charts.” Suddenly, disaster strikes.

The broker disappears, attempts to contact the brokerage firm are unsuccessful, and disparaging emails are sent to the “Mexican address” until someone responds. A phone call from Mexico informs that Castañeda has resigned and Dom Diego will advise him—did Castañeda resign when he discovered he was working for crooks or criminals? As a result of investment losses, according to the brokerage firm, there is a need to transfer five thousand dollars in order to avoid canceling the investor’s account.

Tired of the scammers’ chit-chat, the unwary investor demands a refund. Two thousand dollars are deposited into his account. Days later, a new demand for five thousand dollars arrives. Investments plummet and fluctuate for three months, until, by some “miracle,” everything seems to take off, reaching twelve thousand dollars in profits. The unwary investor requests the release of is funds, but the brokerage firm does not give in, instructing him to deposit ten thousand this time, and to think carefully, as he could lose twelve thousand. “Why should I deposit ten thousand if I only need five?” he complains. The brokerage firm ignores him. Three “managers” contacted him, one of them named Victor, with a Southern Brazilian accent. In one of the calls, you could hear funk music playing in the background, people laughing, a party. It didn’t sound anything like an investment office, much less one located in Mexico City.

Three more months, and Dom Diego begins to make strange, wrong investments that are harmful to the account, melting it away, even in the face of protests from the unwary. One day, the penny dropped. This is an international fraud network, with Brazilians laundering money abroad, and people outside the country cleaning out the accounts of those in Brazil who can do nothing legally, especially in these morally inverted times.

In short…

Once the money has been transferred, nothing can be done, as it is outside the legal jurisdiction of Brazil. There is no way of knowing whether the brokerage firm is actually located where it claims to be. The contact numbers come from various Brazilian and foreign cities. There is no mention of the company’s address or headquarters on the website. Promises of redemption are postponed to a future that will never be reached. The business is to clean out the unwary investor’s account as much as possible, legalize the money, and launder what was obtained from the sale of drugs, weapons, organs, prostitution, embezzlement of public funds, corruption, illegal gambling, and offshore accounts.

The siren song of easy money led many investors to ruin. If you see yourself in the shoes of this unwary person or know someone who is a victim of AI (company acronym), probably from the Russian, Chinese, Arab, or Saudi underworld (this makes it easy to build Dubai and Doha!), share it, comment it, report it.

Ruben Dargã Holdorf, Comm.Se.D