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Scams in Brazil: over 2 million police reports in one year

In 2025, the police recorded 2.26 million scams, five times more than in 2018. And that is only the people who went to the police. The channels people name most for scam attempts are messaging apps and phone calls. Here are the numbers, each with its source.

2.26 million

scams reported to the police in 2025, five times more than in 2018

2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública

1 in 3

Brazilians aged 16 or older lost money to a digital scam in one year (33.4%, about 56 million people)

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

84%

of people who had a scam attempt with their own data were approached on a messaging app

2025 · Source: Cetic.br, NIC.br e CGI.br

R$ 28.8 billion

lost to Pix or fake boleto scams, as the survey estimates

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

Over 97%

of scams reported to the police never reach a court

2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública

How much scamming goes through messaging apps

Scams arrive by many routes at once, but messaging apps come first. In an official survey, 84% of people who had a scam attempt with their own data were approached on a messaging app, and 79% by phone call. In an international survey of Brazilians, WhatsApp is the platform people name most, far ahead of the rest. None of the surveys measures where each scam started, only where people were approached.

How the scam attempt arrives

Internet users aged 16 or older who had a scam attempt with their own data, in 2025. Each person can name more than one channel, so the total is above 100%.

  • Messaging app84%
  • Phone call79%
  • Fake website or app71%
  • SMS71%
  • E-mail69%
  • Social media67%

Source: Cetic.br, NIC.br e CGI.br

Which platform the scammer used

Adults who met a scam in the last 12 months: 820 of 1,170 people in an online panel, March and April 2026. Each person can name more than one platform. Messaging apps are highlighted.

  • WhatsApp64%
  • Gmail32%
  • Instagram22%
  • Facebook17%
  • Google13%
  • Telegram12%
  • Outlook11%
  • OLX9%
  • TikTok9%
  • YouTube6%

Source: Global Anti-Scam Alliance (private association survey)

How scams grew and who they hit

Scams reported to the police, per year

Police reports of estelionato (fraud by deceit) in Brazil, which includes scams online and by phone. It counts only people who went to the police.

427k
2.26M
See the numbers as a table
2018427k
2019524k
2020928k
20211.31M
20221.82M
20232.00M
20242.19M
20252.26M

Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública

Which scams took people's money

Brazilians aged 16 or older who lost money to each kind of scam, July 2024 to June 2025. One person can have fallen for more than one.

  • Paid and never got the purchase17.7%
  • Pix or fake boleto scam14.3%
  • Credit card scam8.0%
  • Investment seen in an online ad7.4%
  • Current or savings account scam6.5%

Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

Scams hit people of every age

Age of people who lost money to a digital crime in the 12 months before June 2024. In brackets, each group's share of the population. The shares are close, so no age group falls for scams more than another.

  • 16 to 29 (27% of the population)27%
  • 30 to 39 (20% of the population)23%
  • 40 to 49 (18% of the population)20%
  • 50 to 59 (15% of the population)14%
  • 60 or older (20% of the population)16%

Source: Instituto DataSenado

The most common scams

Fake relative

A message arrives with the photo of your son, your mother or a friend: "I changed my number". Next comes a Pix request, always in a rush. The scammer uses a real name and photo, taken from social media or leaked data.

39% of internet users say someone tried to scam a family member using another relative's data

2025 · Source: Cetic.br, NIC.br e CGI.br

How it works and what to do

Taken number or account

The scammer gets the login code of your messaging app, or clones the number, and talks to your contacts as if it were you. People trust it, because the message comes from a saved contact.

8.7% had their number used by someone else to scam people (about 14.7 million people)

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

How it works and what to do

Fake bank call centre

Someone calls or writes saying they are from the bank and there is a strange purchase on your account. To "protect" the money, they ask for a password, a code or a transfer. No bank asks for that.

139,000 reports to banks of a fake bank call centre or fake bank employee, almost three times the same period of 2024

first half of 2025 · Source: Febraban

How it works and what to do

Pix and fake boleto

The boleto looks real, but the money goes to the scammer's account. With Pix, the key or the QR code is swapped. A screenshot of a receipt does not prove the money arrived either.

R$ 1,198 is what each victim of a Pix or fake boleto scam lost on average

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

How it works and what to do

Fake shop

An ad with a price far below normal, from a shop or profile you do not know. You pay and the purchase never arrives. In the national survey, it is the scam that took money from the most people.

17.7% of Brazilians aged 16 or older paid for an online purchase that never arrived, the scam that took money from the most people

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

How it works and what to do

Threats with your data

With your or your family's data in hand, the criminal calls or writes with threats and asks for money. In the survey, 27% of people who got this kind of call ended up transferring money.

19.1% got a call, message or e-mail with threats from a criminal who had their or their family's data, asking for money

Jul 2024 to Jun 2025 · Source: Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha

How it works and what to do

Why the numbers differ

Each survey asks a different thing, in a different year. The 2025 Fórum and Datafolha survey adds up five kinds of scam and reaches 33.4%. The 2024 DataSenado survey asked one question, by phone, and reached 24%. The 2026 Fórum survey asked another single question and reached 15.8%. None is wrong: they measure different things.

What protects you

A scammer is always in a rush. What protects you most is to stop and check another way.

  • Someone asked for money by message? Call them on a number you already had before you pay.
  • Banks do not call asking for a password, a code or a transfer. Hang up and call the number on the back of your card yourself.
  • The code you get by SMS is yours alone. Do not give it to anyone, not even someone who says they are from the app.
  • A screenshot of a receipt does not prove payment. Check in your bank app that the money arrived.
  • A price too good to be true, from a shop you do not know, is usually a scam.
  • Fell for a Pix scam? Talk to your bank at once and ask for MED, the Pix refund mechanism. Then file a police report.

How Bipe helps

Bipe is made so you know who is on the other side. Not everything is ready: each item shows where it stands on iPhone and Android.

Scam warnings

A warning shows under a message that looks like a scam, such as a rushed Pix, a new number or a boleto. It is on by default, with nothing to set up.

iPhone: In the test app · Android: In development

Message requests

People who are not in your contacts arrive as a request. A message from a new number does not land straight in your chat list.

iPhone: In the test app · Android: In development

No SMS codes

You sign in with e-mail and a password. Whoever takes your SIM card does not get your account.

iPhone: In the test app · Android: In development

A pause before paying

On a suspicious money request, copy and pay stay locked for 5 seconds, to break the scam's rush.

iPhone: Coming soon · Android: Coming soon

Verified seal

A seal with a name verified through Pix or gov.br, so you know who is on the other side.

iPhone: Coming soon · Android: Coming soon

Is that really Mom?

If the contact saved as Mum has a different verified name, the app asks if it is the same person.

iPhone: Coming soon · Android: Coming soon

Bipe only protects the chats that happen in Bipe. If someone in the family still uses another app, a scammer can write to them there.

Where these numbers come from

Researched on 12 October 2026. We only use numbers that have a source. Surveys by a company or a private association are marked as such.