Overview

• Two alleged leaders, Felipe Quaresma Couto and Cristiano Bloise de Carvalho, were arrested in Rio de Janeiro, while four suspected accomplices remain at large.
• Prosecutors cite charges including qualified fraud, corruption of public employees, falsification of data in systems and criminal organization.
• Investigators say compromised Caixa and lottery-house staff deleted original profiles, then recreated accounts with the same CPF but new email, phone and facial biometrics.
• The group used thousands of AI-generated photos, physical disguises such as wigs and painted faces, and recruited socially vulnerable people with “virgin faces” to pass facial checks.
• Caixa says it cooperated with the probe, suspended implicated employees and is creating a dedicated cybersecurity directorate, as officials report low-income victims missed one or two months of benefits and sought reimbursement.