Brazil's routes in 2026: open a MED contestation in your bank app and call the bank the same hour — for a Pix fraud, this is what lets the receiving bank try to block the money. Report the crime by filing a Boletim de Ocorrência at your state's Delegacia Eletrônica (online police). Complain about the institution to Banco Central on 145, and lodge a consumer complaint at consumidor.gov.br (the company must respond) or your state Procon. For investment fraud, check and report the firm to the CVM. There is no single national fraud portal. And the hard part: an unauthorised payment should be refunded, but a Pix you were deceived into authorising has no blanket refund right — MED can only return what still remains in the chain.
If you've just been scammed in Brazil, the first hours come down to two things: giving the bank a chance to freeze the money, and building a record while the evidence still exists. The order below is the fastest path through a system that has no single front door.
If you're reading this with a Pix you already regret, skip to if money has already moved — with an instant transfer, the contestation you file in the first minutes is sometimes the only thing that works.
The hard truth about getting your money back
This matters most, because it sets your expectations correctly before you spend a week chasing the wrong outcome.
If a payment was unauthorised — someone accessed your account and moved money without you — your bank is generally responsible for making you whole. If you authorised the Pix yourself while being deceived — you sent it, or approved it, because a convincing story told you to — that counts as a valid instruction, and there is no blanket legal rule in Brazil that forces the bank to reimburse you.
Start with your bank and the police report
Two actions matter most, and the order is the same every time: the bank moves on the money, the police report opens the criminal case.
The full Brazilian reporting directory, by scam type
Different scams route to different specialists. Using the right one matters more than reporting to all of them.
If money has already moved — the first hours
Speed is the whole game, and with Pix it is measured in minutes. This is the maximum-recovery order:
The habits that keep you out of the reporting machinery entirely
Reporting is downstream. Prevention is upstream, and three habits stop most Brazilian scams cold:
If you're unsure whether something is a scam before any money moves, the fastest second opinion is the Scam Checker on this site, or our free case review. Both are read by a human and answered within 24 hours.
One rule, end to end
If you take one habit from this piece, take this: any unsolicited call, message, or "mistaken" Pix that pressures you to move, approve, or return money is a scam until you have verified it by contacting your bank back on a number you already trust. Brazil will help you report it after the fact — but the pause that stops the transfer is still worth more than every authority downstream of it.
In Brazil and not sure where to start? Let's look at it together.
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Common questions about reporting a scam in Brazil
Where do I report a scam in Brazil?
Move on two fronts in the same hour. First, your money: open a contestation in your bank app (the MED self-service button) and call your bank — for a Pix fraud this is what gives the receiving bank a chance to block the funds. Second, the crime: file a Boletim de Ocorrência (BO) at your state's Delegacia Eletrônica (online police report), which most states now offer. You can also complain about the financial institution to Banco Central on 145, and lodge a consumer complaint at consumidor.gov.br, where the company is expected to respond. There is no single national fraud portal like the UK's — reporting is split across state police, Banco Central, and consumer channels.
Will a Brazilian bank refund a Pix I was scammed into sending?
Set expectations honestly. If the payment was unauthorised — someone moved money without you — the bank is generally responsible. But if you authorised the Pix yourself because you were deceived, there is no blanket legal rule in Brazil forcing the bank to reimburse you. Your route is the MED (Mecanismo Especial de Devolução), Banco Central's special refund mechanism — but MED is a recovery process, not a guarantee: it can only return money that is still sitting in the recipient's or a downstream account. Brazilian media, citing Banco Central, have reported the older mechanism returned only a small share of contested money, which is exactly why MED 2.0 (live since May 2026) was built to chase funds across the pass-through accounts scammers use.
What is MED 2.0 and how long do I have to use it?
MED (Mecanismo Especial de Devolução) lets you contest a Pix sent in fraud or by error directly in your banking app. The claim goes to the receiving bank, which can block suspect funds; under MED 2.0, in force since May 2026, the two institutions have up to seven days to assess and funds can be held for up to eleven days while they trace the money — now including the intermediate accounts used to launder it. File as fast as you possibly can: the money is moved on within minutes, and MED only returns what still remains in the chain. It does not cover commercial disputes or a wrong key you typed yourself.
Someone is offering to recover my lost money for a fee — is that real?
No — that is the second scam, aimed squarely at people who have just lost money. Fake 'recovery' agents, bogus lawyers, and people posing as the police or your bank will promise to get your money back for an upfront fee, a 'tax', or your banking details. No genuine Brazilian authority or service charges you upfront to recover funds, and Banco Central's MED is free and runs through your own bank. Block them, and check anything you are unsure about with your bank or with us first.
I got a fake bank or delivery text in Brazil — what do I do?
Treat it as a scam and don't tap the link. Fake bank 'security' messages, fake delivery and Correios 'fee' texts, and WhatsApp messages from a 'relative with a new number' are among the most common in Brazil. Open your bank's official app yourself rather than any link, and never approve a transfer or share a code because a message told you to. If money was lost, file a BO at the Delegacia Eletrônica and contest in your bank app. Reporting a phishing site you spotted still helps even if you didn't lose anything.
Sources & further reading
Claims in this piece follow Banco Central guidance and Senado Verifica, with reporting channels as published by the authorities. Click any to verify.