Criminals pretended to be Dorival, former players and coaches to scam RJ

This Thursday (12), the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro began Operation Mascarado in Itaperuna, with the aim of dismantling a group of embezzlers who pretended to be former football players and the coach of the Brazilian national team, Dorival Júnior. Scammers used messages to scam players. The information is from the portal g1.

Investigators discovered that criminals manipulated audios from people linked to football to request money, claiming that they would be used for social projects and support for victims of the floods in southern Brazil.

After carrying out the scam, the gang still asked the victims to record videos encouraging other people to make donations. To date, at least two players, including Oscar, who previously played for the Brazilian national team, have been deceived and made transfers to the scammers. Police investigations, using the criminals’ accounts, led to the identification of the group.

Operation Mascarado has the collaboration of agents from the 19th DP (Tijuca), the General Department of Police of the Capital (DGPC), the 143rd DP (Itaperuna) and the General Department of Interior Police (DGPI).

The operation is carrying out three search and seizure warrants at seven addresses in the city, located in North Fluminense.

Lucas de Oliveira Eduardo was identified as the leader of the gang. He had already been investigated for embezzlement and, born in Minas Gerais, lives in Itaperuna. This morning, Lucas was arrested for attempted electronic fraud, facing a sentence of five years, without the right to bail.

The gang has been operating since 2022 and, in addition to posing as coach Dorival Júnior, they also posed as former player Elias Mendes Trindades. According to investigations, criminals used an image of the former athlete on a fake WhatsApp profile to solicit donations from other players, former players and coaches, claiming that the money would go to help save a child with a rare disease.