Manaus man resells the same car to several people and uses money to pay off debts with bets

Imagine buying a car, paying on time and never receiving the vehicle — and then discovering that dozens of other people fell for the same scam, with the same car. It was exactly this scheme that the Civil Police of Amazonas (PC-AM) says it dismantled in Manaus, with an estimated loss of around R$ 1 million.

How the scam worked

A 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of advertising cars, reselling the same car to several buyers, pocketing payments and disappearing without delivering anything. In an interview with Portal Rios de Notícias, delegate Cícero Túlio, head of the 1st Integrated Police District (DIP), said that the investigation began after several victims sought the police station reporting the same type of fraud.

“The investigations lasted approximately three months, from the arrival of several victims reporting facts of this criminal nature, where the same vehicle was resold to dozens of victims,” the chief told the portal.

According to Túlio, the buyers believed they were closing a legitimate deal and transferred the money directly to the suspect. “These victims ended up passing the money on to him, believing that it was a legitimate sale. After that, he appropriated these amounts and disappeared, leaving these victims at a loss,” he added.

Escape and imprisonment

According to PC-AM, in information released by the newspaper A Crítica, the investigated person improperly used a vehicle marketing platform linked to the company of one of the victims, without paying for the system license. Through the tool, he blocked the sale of cars at dealerships, advertised the vehicles on his own and diverted payments to his own bank account.

The suspect even left Amazonas, but was tracked on his return. “After monitoring work, we identified that he returned from Santa Catarina to Manaus and we were able to locate him to serve the preventive arrest warrant,” reported the delegate. The arrest took place in the Praça 14 de Janeiro neighborhood, in the south of the capital of Amazonas.

The police also obtained the blocking of the suspect’s accounts and financial assets and served two search and seizure warrants, which resulted in the seizure of a vehicle. In a statement, he admitted to having used part of the money from the scams to pay off debts on online betting platforms. The investigation concluded that he acted alone. The man will answer for embezzlement and misrepresentation.