A digital influencer is the target of an operation that combats a criminal smartphone import scheme in São Paulo, this Tuesday morning (1).
He is being investigated for the crimes of embezzlement and ideological falsehood and claims to be a specialist in importing cell phones without paying taxes.
Operation Ifraud carries out eight search and seizure warrants in the capital of São Paulo and in six other cities in the state. In total, 25 Federal Revenue inspectors and 35 Federal Police agents participate in the action.
The investigation shows that the suspect propagated illegal activities to thousands of followers on his social networks. He has 650 thousand followers on Instagram and 250 thousand on YouTube.
According to the PF, the influencer taught his students how to import products from the United States. He advised his customers to carry out transactions with “partner sites” that would help with the purchase of devices, without paying taxes.
In addition to the criminal importation, the suspect supplied the illegally imported phones directly to other customers. The police point out that he maintained a network of accomplices responsible for the illicit import and distribution of smartphones.
Revenue auditors intercepted two cell phone parcel shipments. In both cases, those responsible did not present documents of the legal origin of the devices.
The company identified as a distributor of illegal imports had a financial turnover of R$45 million and acquired R$1.8 million in cryptocurrencies in 2023.
In the first 100 days of 2024, the company sold more than 3 thousand smartphones without any invoice for the goods entering the country. The sales value is more than R$14 million.
The Federal Revenue estimates that the criminal scheme caused a loss of around R$50 million to public coffers.
See the illustration below how the investigated scheme works.
The influencer flaunted luxury cars and mansions on the internet, resulting from profits from illicit activities. On the other hand, his students had their orders seized by the Federal Revenue Service.
The operation still seeks to identify other participants in the fraudulent scheme. Those involved may be liable for money laundering, currency evasion, embezzlement, criminal association, misrepresentation and other crimes.
This content was originally published in Influencer is target of operation against criminal importation of smartphones on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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