A study conducted in collaboration between the SOS Golpe reporting platform and the financial technology company CloudWalk (the parent company of InfinitePay) has highlighted that fraudulent online store scams are the most common type of online shopping fraud in Brazil and a primary form of internet fraud. This investigation covered the period from January to May 2025, with approximately 11,800 reported cases.

According to the research data, shopping-related fraud cases accounted for 45.1%, reaching 5,300 cases. Other non-shopping-related digital fraud accounted for 54.9%.

The Federal District is not only the region with the highest number of reported internet fraud cases in Brazil but also the area with the highest number of "fraudulent online store scams" cases. Other severely affected states include Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, and Parana.

The operation of fraudulent online store scams includes enticing victims with low-price promotions on social media, placing orders on websites that appear to be legitimate stores, making payments using PIX, and then receiving no confirmation emails with the store disappearing.

The average financial loss from these scams is approximately 740 Brazilian reais. These scams exploit the psychological lure of believing one is getting a "bargain" when in reality, the goods are never received.

Apart from fraudulent online store scams, other common types of internet fraud include clone company scams and second-hand seller scams. These scams involve different modus operandi and average financial losses.

Researchers assessed the scam rate in each state by comparing the number of reports on the "SOS Golpe" platform with the number of PIX transactions provided by the Central Bank of Brazil to better understand the actual risk situation in each state.

These research findings indicate that social media is the primary channel for scammers, with many fraudulent advertisements even being promoted through paid ads on social media. To prevent these scams, precautions such as being wary of low-price temptations, verifying website links, checking company reputations, avoiding making payments on public Wi-Fi, and only using legitimate payment channels are recommended.