Fake Brasil sem Bets site charges 15% Pix "release tax"

A fake copy of the Brazilian federal government's "Brasil sem Bets" page is showing visitors betting balances that do not exist and charging a 15% fee by Pix, Brazil's instant payment system, to "release" them, Veja reports. The copy sits on a lookalike address, not on the government's own domain.

When Veja tested the page, it showed R$1,800 "to receive" (our translation) for a reporter who had never opened an account with any betting site. To check and release the supposed balance, the visitor has to enter their CPF (the Brazilian taxpayer number) and pay an "Imposto de Liberação" ("release tax", our translation) by Pix, worth 15% of the amount shown. By our arithmetic, on Veja's test figure that would be R$270 paid for money that does not exist.

Why the timing works for fraudsters

Brazil has banned online sports betting and online casinos since 25 September 2026 under Provisional Measure (Medida Provisória) 1.394/2026. The government's Brasil sem Bets page told players how to get their remaining balances back, which makes "money waiting for you" a believable message for anyone who used to bet.

Carlos Lima, president of the Brazilian Institute for Responsible Gaming (IBJR), told Veja that criminals copy the names, logos and visual elements of formerly authorised betting brands and alter the domains to confuse consumers; Veja says this scam resembles those clones. "Now that consumers no longer have the legal site to help them tell which one is real and which one is fake, this scam has grown," he said (our translation). Creating a new fake site is "very easy, very quick" (our translation), Lima added, so taking pages down is not enough; he says it is necessary to make it harder for the money behind illegal operations to move.

What the official page says

Veja describes the official address as offline. When we loaded brasilsembets.gov.br on 22 October 2026 (around 09:00 CEST), it showed a government notice instead. It says:

• platforms had to keep their sites up and allow withdrawals until 23:59 on 5 October 2026;
• for anyone who could not withdraw in time, the banks working with betting platforms would return the balance automatically between 9 and 14 October 2026;
• anyone who has not received their money should go to Caixa Econômica Federal, the state bank, from 14 October.

The notice mentions no fee and asks for no payment. It points readers to gov.br/bets for more information. For the background to these refunds, see our earlier coverage of Brazil's betting shutdown and the Brasil sem Bets balance refunds and of the government's plan to sue eight former operators over missing refund data.

How to spot it

• Check the address. Brazilian federal government sites end in .gov.br. A familiar name and layout on any other ending is not the government.
• A fee to release your own money is a warning sign. The official notice asks for no fee. In our view, a "tax" payable by Pix before anything is paid out is a classic advance-fee pattern.
• A balance you never had is not a windfall. In Veja's test, the page invented one for someone who had never bet.
• Don't type your CPF into a site you reached from a link or ad. Go to the official address yourself.

Lookalike names are a familiar trick around gambling: blocking app Gamban recently warned about a casino whose name is one letter away from its own. Brazil's betting regulator has blocked tens of thousands of illegal betting domains, and Ordinance 2.750 gives banks and payment firms 24 hours to block accounts of unauthorised betting operators after formal SPA notice.

If you already paid

Brazil's Ministry of Justice advises Pix scam victims to contact their bank immediately through its official channels (the number on the back of your card, the bank's app or a branch) and to file a police report (boletim de ocorrência) online or in person, keeping screenshots and the transfer details. Under the Central Bank's Special Return Mechanism (Mecanismo Especial de Devolução, MED), you can ask your bank to dispute a Pix payment made because of a scam, even if you authorised it yourself. The ministry notes there is no guarantee the money will come back, so act as quickly as you can.

If gambling has caused you harm, the official page directs people to Brazil's public health service, the SUS.