Police target scammers posing as former football players

This Thursday morning (12), the Civil Police carried out an operation in Itaperuna in the state of Rio de Janeiro to investigate a group posing as former football players, including the coach of the Brazilian national team. Dorival Junior.

According to Policevictims were lured through messaging applications and audios made using artificial intelligence with the voices of people from the football world were used to ask for money for social projects and in favor of victims of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul.

“The searches carried out today aim to seize materials in his possession and in the homes of other people being investigated, with the aim of clarifying all the details of this criminal scheme”, said the Civil Police in a note.

Operation Mascarado carried out three search and seizure warrants at seven addresses in Itaperuna, in the North of Rio de Janeiro. According to the Civil Police, Lucas de Oliveira Eduardo is the leader of the gang, has already been investigated for the same crime and was arrested by the corporation for the crime of attempted embezzlement.

Dorival Júnior's voice was used to carry out a coup

To carry out the scams, the gang used Dorival Júnior's voice to raise money for the organization. There are suspicions that they used cuts from the coach's interviews edited by artificial intelligence.

The gang has been operating since 2022 and also used a photo and voice of midfielder Elias, who has played for Flamengo, Corinthians and Atlético Mineiro.

_{Volante Elias also had his image and voice used by the gang (Photo: reproduction/João Guilherme/Raw Image)}

Ricardo Monteiro, Dorival Júnior's lawyer, states that scams evolved with the use of AIs. He warns that if you suffer a scam, go straight to a police station.

“And if you have fallen for a scam, look for a police station to register and carry out due investigation”, said the lawyer who is also a member of the OAB/RJ Consumer Protection Commission.

The coach discovered the scam when players made bank transfers and contacted him to ask for more explanations.

Criminals still asked for videos of players to encourage donations

According to the Civil Police investigation, the criminals used the photo of coach Dorival Júnior and other players used to strengthen the scheme.

Furthermore, the target of the scammers were players, coaches and former players and they used the case of a child with a rare disease and also used the floods that occurred in Rio Grande do Sul to convince the players to make donations to the account. investigated.

Furthermore, the scammers, after receiving the donations, still asked for a video to be recorded to encourage more people to donate to the cause and consequently fall for the gang's scam.

At least two players were deceived by the gang. Among them is the player Oscar, who played for the Brazilian team during the 2014 World Cup and was playing in China.

Featured photo: Dorival Junior’s photo and voice were used to apply blows (Reproduction/Nelson Almeida/AFP)