PIX: Using carefully can avoid blows, says expert

Pix is ​​a tool that came to revolutionize the Brazilian market. Whether due to its practicality or speed, the payment method aroused the interest of many people. In the month of May alone, there were 3 billion 190 million and 353 thousand transactions, according to data from the Central Bank. It allows funds to be transferred between accounts in a few seconds, at any time or day and can be carried out from a checking account, savings account or prepaid payment account. But even though the platform is safe, Pix has made room for several frauds to be carried out.

Professor Marcos Tupinambá, a specialist in digital law, says that criminals are increasingly specializing in new scams using the tool.

“Although the system is very safe and very well designed, several frauds have emerged over time using the pix system, such as fake whatsapp, in which someone asks for a transfer claiming to be a son, a mother, so it’s always important check who this person is asking for money”, he points out.

Among the most common crimes, the expert highlights the fake call centers that impersonate banks, product sellers or even large companies, who contact to make an offer and provide a pix for payment; and companies with fake internet pages that also try to offer products and services with payment via pix. “If it is a company that is doing this, the recipient of the payment has to be the company itself, never an individual. Always be suspicious when a company asks for payment from an individual”, he guides.

According to the Civil-DF Police, there are no statistical criminal reports on the pix coup. The criminal type of the crime depends on the circumstances of the fact. They claim that it is not possible to state that every “pix coup” is a certain criminal type. The police authority analyzes the fact individually when defining which crime best suits the case. The “pix coup” can be framed, for example, as a crime of embezzlement. According to the Civil-DF Police, it is one of the most common crimes for this type of fraud. So far, 15,190 cases of embezzlement have been registered in the Federal District. The federal capital of the country, Brasilia, had the highest number with 2,090 notifications.

Professor Marcos Tupinambá issues a warning: “The big tip is attention above all else. Attention can avoid many failures, it can avoid many scams, it can avoid many frauds. Check who the recipient is, check the amount, always check that the amount is correct as agreed, and on the other hand, check that the amount was sent correctly, that it came from the right person who said he would receive it. With enough attention, we can greatly reduce the number of frauds per pix”, he reinforces.