Police target suspects of running a fake bill scam in SP A group suspected of carrying out the fake bill scam was the target of an operation by the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police this Tuesday morning (16) in São Paulo. Preventive arrest and search and seizure warrants were executed. Four people were arrested until the last update of this report. 📲 Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp According to the investigation, criminals monitored consumer complaint platforms to identify people having difficulty paying off loans or financing. They would then get in touch via WhatsApp, pretending to be financial institution attendants. There are victims in RS and other states. With the victims' data, the group sent fake invoices that looked identical to the originals. The documents contained legitimate information from the companies, but directed payments to accounts controlled by the suspects. How the scam worked According to the Civil Police, the leader of the group, a 35-year-old man whose identity was not disclosed, had access to the internal systems of one of the finance companies and was able to identify customers with active loans and interest in early repayment. The slips were tampered with by members of the gang to replace the beneficiary's data. At the time of payment, the money was transferred to the account of a member of the group, who kept 10% of the amounts. Investigation began in RS The case began after a victim filed a report in Rio Grande do Sul. She paid two false bills and lost R$52,239.27 when she believed she was paying off a debt. Police identified at least three victims in different states, but believe the number to be higher. In other scam attempts, the amounts charged reached R$23,120.88 per operation. By breaking confidentiality and tracking financial movements, investigators mapped those involved and identified specific roles within the criminal organization. The Civil Police warns consumers to pay extra attention when paying bills and check the authenticity of contacts and data before making any payment. Fake bill scam: scheme used consumer data on the internet to send false charges via WhatsApp Disclosure/Civil Police VIDEOS: Everything about RS