CyberGAECO and Rio de Janeiro prosecutors raid illegal betting and laundering network across Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Bahia

The operation, carried out on 13/8, targeted a scheme that allegedly ran at least ten unauthorized betting sites, blocked customer withdrawals, and moved funds through shell companies, crypto assets, and overseas transfers. For PSPs and acquirers, the important part is not the theatrics of the seizure list; it is the familiar pattern of illegal betting, payout denial, and layered laundering.

1. The action was led by the CyberGAECO/MPRJ cybercrime unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Rio de Janeiro, with support from the Coordenadoria de Segurança e Inteligência (CSI/MPRJ). Seven search and seizure warrants, issued by the 3rd Specialized Criminal Court for Organized Crime, were executed in three states: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Bahia.
2. Investigators identified at least ten online betting platforms operating without the authorization required by the Ministry of Finance: furiabet.bet, galeradabet.bet, voude.bet, alfagames.bet, pixbr.io, pixdasorte.io, jogadacerta.net, aposteibet.bet, goathbet.com and bravabet.io. Deposits made by users on these sites were allegedly routed to shell companies.
3. The scheme did not stop at unauthorized wagering. According to the investigation, the platforms also prevented customers from withdrawing balances from their own accounts, turning the operation into direct fraud against consumers rather than just an unlicensed betting business.
4. Funds were then allegedly converted into crypto assets, broken up across multiple accounts, and sent abroad before being reintroduced into the formal economy. A Financial Intelligence Report from COAF (the Financial Activities Control Council) recorded more than 800 suspicious transaction reports between 2022 and 2026 and placed total financial movement above R$ 1,4 billion. More than R$ 100 million of that amount was tied to a single company involved in the scheme.
5. The execution involved the CyberGAECO of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo, the GAECO of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bahia (MPBA), and the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) of the Ministry of Finance, which also assisted with the investigation. In the seizures, authorities recovered items including a vehicle and two mobile phones in Rio de Janeiro, and two luxury cars, watches, and foreign banknotes in São Paulo, with the inventory also including U.S. dollars, euros, pounds sterling, Chilean pesos and Peruvian soles, plus crypto assets in transit to overseas accounts.

For high-risk operators, the takeaways are blunt: unauthorized betting, blocked withdrawals, shell-company routing, crypto layering and overseas cash-out remain a single enforcement package in the eyes of prosecutors. When those elements show up together, banks and PSPs usually do not get much room to argue that this is “just gaming.”