Civil Police of Pará arrests in Rio de Janeiro suspect of 'romantic fraud'
The victim, a woman from Pará, lost about R$ 500,000, transferred to the criminal, who is now at the disposal of Justice
The Civil Police of Pará launched on the morning of this Thursday (24) Operation “Romance Scam” to execute preventive arrest warrants, home search and seizure, and search and seizure of virtual assets against a suspect of the crime of “romantic fraud” or “love scam,” and money laundering.
The action mobilized agents from the Division for Combating Crimes Against Vulnerable Groups Committed by Cyber Means (DCCV), linked to the State Directorate for Combating Cyber Crimes (DECCC), and involved the participation of the Laboratory of Technology Against Money Laundering (LAB/LD/NIP/PC-PA), with support from the Division for the Suppression of Organized Crime (DRACO) of the Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
“The Operation stems from investigations conducted by the DCCV team. The victim, a woman from Pará, believed she was in a virtual relationship with a foreigner, but was deceived and made several bank transfers, totaling R$ 500,000. During the investigative work, we were able to identify that the suspect received the amounts in his bank accounts and, in order to conceal the illicit origin of the money, made transfers to a company that operates crypto assets, using the funds to purchase bitcoins,” explained Delegate Lua Figueiredo, head of the DCCV, who coordinated the Operation.
Seizures - In addition to the preventive arrest of the suspect, precautionary measures granted by the Court of the 1st Police Inquiry and Precautionary Measures Court of Belém were executed, such as the search and seizure of devices, virtual assets, blocking and seizure of goods and values and virtual assets.
“The investigation carried out under Operation “Romance Scam” marks the first case in which the Civil Police of Pará was judicially authorized to seize crypto assets and create the first virtual wallet in the name of PCPA, intended for the custody of seized virtual assets, according to judicial authorization, for the seizure and blocking of virtual assets in a police inquiry investigating the crimes of romantic fraud and money laundering, carried out through the acquisition of crypto assets,” informed the delegate.
During the personal and home search and seizure, the suspect's cell phone was seized and sent for examination. The arrested individual was taken to the Police Station and is at the disposal of the Judiciary.
