An unusual situation occurred with the farmer Sérgio Donofre in Campinas (SP) this week. According to a report shared by G1, the man was the victim of a WhatsApp scam and the bandits warned him about what happened so that he would not take a scheduled trip.
The coup involved the lease of Casa Tortuga, which has a swimming pool and faces Enseada beach, in Guarujá (SP). In this case, the bandits falsely announced the location, for which Donofre paid R$2,800 after checking the location and satellite images.
The farmer’s plans involved taking 15 family members to enjoy the end of year festivities:
It was very frustrating, the whole family was going, 15 people, and they were all excited because it was two days before the trip. My sister came from the US and would go too.
The surprise came when one of the bandits contacted him again via WhatsApp after Donofre made the payment.
In the message is written:
Good morning Sérgio, I’m contacting the ctt to ask you not to go to the place, because nothing we talked about exists, everything was just a scam, unfortunately it’s our job, I’m warning you not to miss a trip… God bless you.
After having his year-end plans spoiled by the scam, Sérgio decided to make the case public to prevent new victims from falling into the bandits’ plot, who are still active on WhatsApp offering the property for false lease.
To avoid this type of scam, the ideal is to make the payment only after picking up the keys to the residence, in addition to researching whether the bank account is in the same name as the landlord, in addition to making a video call to verify that the landlord is really legitimate.
If you are the victim of a scam, the ideal is to go to the Civil Police and Civil Justice to try to recover the money paid. See how to protect yourself from other WhatsApp scams in our Detective TechSmart special.
