# Threat scams with your data: how they work and what to do · Bipe

With your or your family's data in hand, the criminal calls or writes with threats and asks for money. Having your data does not prove the threat is real.

**The threat scam: when the criminal has your data**

## The numbers

- **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](https://publicacoes.forumseguranca.org.br/server/api/core/bitstreams/33ed3320-fc11-45f9-a909-ed69eba48cfd/content))
- **27%** of people who got this kind of call ended up transferring money (Jul 2024 to Jun 2025. Source: [Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha](https://publicacoes.forumseguranca.org.br/server/api/core/bitstreams/33ed3320-fc11-45f9-a909-ed69eba48cfd/content))

## How it works

1. The criminal gathers your data: name, address, CPF, names of relatives. Much of it comes from leaks.
2. They call or write quoting that data, to seem to know everything about you.
3. They threaten you or someone in the family, or say a relative was kidnapped.
4. They ask for money at once, by Pix.

## How to spot it

- A call from an unknown number quotes your data.
- The threat comes with a short deadline.
- They ask you not to hang up and not to talk to anyone.
- They ask for a Pix to someone else's account.

## What to do

- Hang up. Having your data does not prove the threat is real.
- Call the relative they named on a number you already had.
- Do not pay. File a police report and, if there is a risk, call 190.

## 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.

- [Message requests](https://proseio.com.br/en/features/message-requests/) (iPhone: In the test app; Android: In development): 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.
- [Scam warnings](https://proseio.com.br/en/features/scam-warnings/) (iPhone: In the test app; Android: In development): 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.

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.

## Other common scams

- [Fake relative](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/fake-relative-scam/)
- [Taken number or account](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/cloned-number-scam/)
- [Fake bank call centre](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/fake-bank-call-scam/)
- [Pix and fake boleto](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/pix-scam/)
- [Fake shop](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/fake-shop-scam/)
- [Scams in Brazil in numbers](https://proseio.com.br/en/scams-in-brazil/)

## 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.

- [Pesquisa de vitimização e percepção sobre violência e segurança pública 2025](https://publicacoes.forumseguranca.org.br/server/api/core/bitstreams/33ed3320-fc11-45f9-a909-ed69eba48cfd/content) (Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública e Datafolha, 2025-08)


## Download

- Install on iPhone: https://testflight.apple.com/join/KUnUX9Mz (Test version, through Apple TestFlight.)
- Android: coming soon: The Android version has not started yet. Leave your email and we will tell you when it is out. contact@envisioning.com

A project by Envisioning: https://envisioning.com