R$ 40 Million In Two Years: How Influencers Profited Big With Games Promoted On Social Media

Written by Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published on 07/08/2025 at 10:52

Apostas e influência: esquema com youtubers e celebridades pode ter movimentado bilhões

Be the first to react!

Operation Desfortuna Points to Millionaire Scheme with Ostentation, Money Laundering and Connection to Organized Crime

The Civil Police of Rio revealed that influencers moved around R$ 40 million between 2022 and 2024 by promoting illegal online casinos, especially the popular “Jogo do Tigrinho”. According to the Operation Desfortuna, launched this Thursday (07), the criminal structure sustaining this publicity network may have moved up to R$ 4 billion, according to reports from Coaf. The targets used social media to flaunt a luxurious lifestyle, inconsistent with their declared incomes.

31 search and seizure warrants were executed, with 23 in the state of Rio de Janeiro alone. Among the investigated are well-known names from the internet such as Bia Miranda, Mauricio Martins Junior (Mau Mau), and sisters Paola and Paulina de Ataíde. The operation seized luxury cars, documents, cell phones, and weapons. The goal is to dismantle a scheme that used digital influence to attract victims to disguised gambling opportunities.

How the Influencers’ Scheme Worked

According to delegate Renan Mello from the Delegacy for Combating Organized Crime and Money Laundering (DCOC-LD), the influencers acted as spokespersons for illegal casinos, receiving commissions based on the number of bets generated and losses incurred by their followers.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Who the Targets of Operation Desfortuna Are

The list of 15 investigated individuals includes influential figures on social media, such as:

Bia Miranda, former reality show participant
Mauricio Martins Junior (Mau Mau), with over 3 million followers
Nayara Silva Mendes, involved in digital marketing actions
The twins Paola and Paulina de Ataíde, known for lifestyle content

In São Paulo, Mau Mau was caught in the act for illegal possession of a weapon. Meanwhile, Bia Miranda is out of the country and has not yet made a statement. The police are still waiting for the arrival of two luxury vehicles, a Porsche and a BMW belonging to individuals under investigation who were not at the scene during the actions.

The Impact of Social Media on the Scheme

Investigations revealed that monetizing digital influence is at the heart of the organization’s strategy. Using the language of proximity and personal success, influencers convinced thousands of followers to engage in gambling, many of whom lost large sums believing in quick profits.

The digital performance was reinforced by ostentation of high-value assets, such as international trips, luxury cars, and properties, all showcased as the result of gambling.

The Civil Police warns that the public needs to be alert: “These casinos do not offer real chances of profit. The logic is that the player’s loss generates profit for the influencer”, said delegate Mello.

The operation was coordinated in partnership with the Asset Recovery Office (GRA) and the Laboratory for Technology Against Money Laundering (Lab-LD) of the Civil Police, and aims to advance to identify those responsible for keeping betting platforms operating in the country.

Have you seen this type of ad on social media? Do you think that influencers should be held accountable for promoting illegal casinos? Leave your opinion in the comments; your experience can alert others.

0 Comments

most recent

older Most voted

R$ 40 Million In Two Years: How Influencers Profited Big With Games Promoted On Social Media

Operation Desfortuna Points to Millionaire Scheme with Ostentation, Money Laundering and Connection to Organized Crime

How the Influencers’ Scheme Worked

Who the Targets of Operation Desfortuna Are

The Impact of Social Media on the Scheme

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Four times faster than the Concorde, capable of taking passengers from New York to London in less than an hour at Mach 5.5, and with an engine that switches from turbojet to ramjet mid-flight at Mach 3.5, the Hermeus Quarterhorse went from paper to its first flight in just 19 months.

Under nearly 2 kilometers of ice in Antarctica, scientists have discovered an ancient landscape sculpted by rivers up to 60 million years ago, the size of Wales, preserved as a time capsule that could help predict the advance of ice towards the ocean.

She started by collecting oyster shells from restaurants and today she has already accumulated more than 10 tons to restore reefs, recover coastal habitats, and demonstrate how a common waste can become a tool for ocean conservation.

SpaceX will dock a $843 million vehicle to the International Space Station to push a nearly 420-ton laboratory against the atmosphere and make the debris fall in a controlled manner into the ocean.

For the economist José Kobori, the USA gained a trump card to “blackmail” Brazil and undermine China’s influence by classifying the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorists, increasing the power to pressure companies, banks, and even Pix.

BYD Atto 2 DM-i flex prepares to debut in Brazil with a plug-in hybrid engine, national assembly in Camaçari, competitive pricing, and targets Creta and T-Cross in a battle that promises to heat up the compact SUV market.

Processors can become 1,000 times faster with a new device that uses light pulses, operates in 40 picoseconds, and reduces the heat that stalls data centers.

Noise in the sky frightened residents: NASA confirms that a meteor exploded over New England with a force equivalent to 230 tons of TNT

The paycheck that seemed impossible: São José employee receives R$ 7.94 after legal strike, while deductions by the City Hall affect over a thousand employees and become a target of inquiry in the City Council.

R$ 40 Million In Two Years: How Influencers Profited Big With Games Promoted On Social Media

Operation Desfortuna Points to Millionaire Scheme with Ostentation, Money Laundering and Connection to Organized Crime

How the Influencers’ Scheme Worked

Who the Targets of Operation Desfortuna Are

The Impact of Social Media on the Scheme

A giant printer called the “Ferrari” of concrete has landed in Latin America and can already build a 120-square-meter house in just 48 hours, making the traditional construction site look like something from the last century.

Brazil will harvest a record crop of up to 357 million tons of grains, but it does not have the capacity to store a large part of it. The storage deficit has reached the highest level in history and is equivalent to almost the entire production of Argentina.

Four times faster than the Concorde, capable of taking passengers from New York to London in less than an hour at Mach 5.5, and with an engine that switches from turbojet to ramjet mid-flight at Mach 3.5, the Hermeus Quarterhorse went from paper to its first flight in just 19 months.

Under nearly 2 kilometers of ice in Antarctica, scientists have discovered an ancient landscape sculpted by rivers up to 60 million years ago, the size of Wales, preserved as a time capsule that could help predict the advance of ice towards the ocean.

She started by collecting oyster shells from restaurants and today she has already accumulated more than 10 tons to restore reefs, recover coastal habitats, and demonstrate how a common waste can become a tool for ocean conservation.

SpaceX will dock a $843 million vehicle to the International Space Station to push a nearly 420-ton laboratory against the atmosphere and make the debris fall in a controlled manner into the ocean.

For the economist José Kobori, the USA gained a trump card to “blackmail” Brazil and undermine China’s influence by classifying the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorists, increasing the power to pressure companies, banks, and even Pix.

The labor shortage has changed its face in Brazil: companies hire 80% more, but workers stay only 6.8 months in the job, the service market becomes a “revolving door,” and businesses spend increasingly more to train teams that soon leave.

Chinese giant chooses SC to set up its first factory in Brazil, investing R$ 250 million and producing MRI machines costing R$ 10 million each, with 100 direct jobs and 5% of revenue allocated to research.

After selling a unit for R$ 115 million to pay off debts, a traditional factory in SC founded in 1932 has a new R$ 64.8 million plan denied by the court and retains about 690 workers in Joinville.

Use of slimming pens skyrockets in Brazil, surpasses the global average, and causes unexpected changes in consumption habits, diet, beauty, and the wellness market.

For the economist José Kobori, the USA gained a trump card to “blackmail” Brazil and undermine China’s influence by classifying the PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorists, increasing the power to pressure companies, banks, and even Pix.

BYD Atto 2 DM-i flex prepares to debut in Brazil with a plug-in hybrid engine, national assembly in Camaçari, competitive pricing, and targets Creta and T-Cross in a battle that promises to heat up the compact SUV market.

Processors can become 1,000 times faster with a new device that uses light pulses, operates in 40 picoseconds, and reduces the heat that stalls data centers.

Noise in the sky frightened residents: NASA confirms that a meteor exploded over New England with a force equivalent to 230 tons of TNT

The paycheck that seemed impossible: São José employee receives R$ 7.94 after legal strike, while deductions by the City Hall affect over a thousand employees and become a target of inquiry in the City Council.