Brazilian federal police on Tuesday shut down a fraud scheme targeting the federal lottery in Rio de Janeiro.
Six alleged members of the gang involved in the scam were arrested, but another remains wanted by police. Seventy federal agents participated in "Operation Dirty Game."
According to investigators, the scheme embezzled about 5 million reais (2.5 million U.S. dollars) from the budget earmarked for the lottery, which is operated by state-owned bank Caixa Economica Federal (CEF).
The gang acquired a lottery sales point in Rio's north area. After closing time on drawing day, the gang issued "extra" tickets for the drawings, for which they charged 7,500 reais (3,750 U.S. dollars) each, but the CEF never received the money paid for the bets.
Of those "extra" tickets, 19 were awarded winnings. CEF stated that 18 percent of all the bets made in the country for those winning drawings originated from that sole lottery sales point, which prompted the investigation that culminated in Tuesday's police operation.
Source: Xinhua
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