The Civil Police arrested in São Bernardo do Campo, in Greater São Paulo, two men, aged 19 and 22, accused of criminal association and embezzlement for carrying out the so-called “birthday gift scam”. The pair would discover the victims’ date of birth and impersonate cake or flower deliverers who would charge fees of up to R$4,000 for delivery.
The case is still followed up by the Specialized Criminal Investigation Police Station (Deic) of São Bernardo do Campo, which is trying to find other victims and associates of the duo in Greater São Paulo. “We believe they landed more shots like these because they were perfect. It was a perfect blow”, says delegate Miguel Ferreira da Silva.
The police began the investigation after the complaint of a victim who paid BRL 4,500 for the delivery of flowers on her birthday. According to the delegate, the duo is from the east side of São Paulo and obtained the address, name and date of birth of the targets through “open sources” such as social networks and through the purchase of personal data base leaked online from other services and applications.
“A criminal arrives pretending to be a motoboy, takes cake and flowers, but says that only the ‘symbolic’ delivery fee is missing. He simulates typing a value from R$ 6 to R$ 10, but puts it much higher. And then he claims connection failure, display problem or puts his finger on top of the number ”, explains Silva.
While one of the men was on “support”, the fake delivery man applied the blow using a helmet and backpack, which prevented his identification from the victim’s security camera footage. The motorcycle used in the crime also had no license plate. They were only found when the police were able to track down the victim’s money, but still just barely.
“The money spent in the machine is sprayed at the same time. They have another element that withdraws the amount from an ATM or transfers it to another account”, explains the delegate. “The person goes up with the delivery and the money is already gone.”
The two men remain temporarily detained at the São Bernardo do Campo Deic.
Source: CNN Brasil
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