Fake government site charges Pix fee to release non-existent betting balances

A fraudulent website that imitates the federal government's page for checking money owed from betting houses charges a fee by Pix to release balances that do not exist, according to tests reported by Veja Negócios. The fake domain brasilsembets.org is visually similar to the official address brasilsembets.gov.br, which has been offline since the deadline for consultation and refund of the funds closed.

During the tests, the clandestine page told a reporter who had never opened an account on any betting platform that R$1,800 was available to receive. To check and release the supposed balance, the user must provide a CPF and pay a so-called "Imposto de Liberação", charged at a rate of 15% on the amount displayed.

The scheme follows a pattern already recorded in recent cloning of websites of betting houses authorised to operate in Brazil. Carlos Lima, president of the Instituto Brasileiro de Jogo Responsável (IBJR), said criminals reproduce operators' names, logos and visual elements, changing only the domains to deceive consumers.

Lima said the official government address going offline has widened users' vulnerability. "Agora, como o consumidor não tem mais o site legalizado para ajudá-lo a identificar qual é o verdadeiro e qual é o falso, esse golpe tem crescido", he said.

Clandestine platforms do not offer the same protections as regularised operators, according to the report. Among the missing safeguards it lists are identity verification by facial recognition, blocking of access for children, adolescents and beneficiaries of social programmes, and self-exclusion tools for those who wish to stop betting.

Lima said taking down fake pages is not enough to contain the problem. "A facilidade de se criar um site falsificado novo é muito fácil, muito rápido", he said. The IBJR president argued that combating fraud must above all make it harder for the financial resources that sustain illegal operations to circulate.