An influencer who became a multi-millionaire by raffling VIP motors has been investigated by police for money laundering.
Influencer Bruno Lima from the city of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, regularly posts snaps next to the luxurious cars he offers for his 10.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok.
But Lima’s high profile posts, like the one where he announced a chance to win a BMW i8 model for a BRL 1.29 (GBP 0.21) ticket, caught the eye of local cops.
As a result, they launched an anti-money laundering operation targeting his online raffles for luxury cars in Campinas on Monday, 9th October.
The police seized 14 vehicles, including several luxury cars, together with cell phones and electronic devices.
The suspects had announced that the luxury vehicle raffles were linked to the Federal Lottery.
After the lucky ticket was chosen, they would mostly say that the winner had decided to receive the prize via Pix, which is a payment method developed by the Central Bank of Brazil.
This means that the luxury vehicle was not given to the winner as they allegedly took cash instead, causing allegations of a lack of transparency.
The authorities believe at least BRL 7 million (GBP 1.12 million) were transferred to the alleged scammers during the raffles, according to local media.
Delegate Luiz Fernando Dias said: “The investigations were heavily based on monitoring the social network of the person being investigated.
“It was possible to notice countless people complaining about the lack of clear and specific evidence regarding who the winners of the draws would be, and also about the presence of these vehicles that were now drawn at the vehicle store opened by the person being investigated.
“All these elements led us to believe that this motor vehicle store, recently opened by the person under investigation, was actually used to launder money resulting from the criminal offence of gambling.
“It is a practice that has been gradually disseminated on social networks, and which is not subject to suspension of activities by the platforms because they believe that there is a need for you to have a court order for this purpose.
“Their claim is always that they are not responsible for what the user posts on social media.”
Lima denied doing any crime and said: “We never deceived any person, any winner, no result was cheated, everyone received their prize, we separated each winner, each transfer, but they didn’t even want to accept these documents (which they asked for after we explained how it worked detail by detail).
“I never had to pay no one to get where I am. […] I’m trying to keep my head straight and take care of my daughter, wife and family.”
The court ordered the suspension of the social networks of those investigated, as well as the blocking of their current accounts.
The seized cars will be used to reduce debts resulting from possible tax crimes or compensate victims who suffered large losses, according to delegate Dias.
