Understand what happened to Bolsonaro's brother, who lost his Mega da Virada lottery prize after third parties withdrew the money using a code.
The brother of former president Jair Bolsonaro had difficulty claiming a Mega da Virada lottery prize after third parties withdrew the money using only the ticket's identification code. The situation was revealed to BNLData by lottery businessman Marco Taurisano, who has been in the business for almost 10 years, in an interview this Wednesday (January 28th), who explained how bettors become vulnerable when sharing photos of winning tickets on social media platforms.
Renato Bolsonaro, brother of the former president, discovered that he will not be able to claim a prize of R$ 216,76 from the Mega da Virada 2025 lottery that he won in a group bet with the former president. He stated this Monday (January 26th) that, when trying to withdraw the amount corresponding to the four correct numbers, he was informed that the prize had already been claimed by another person, even though he had the physical ticket in his possession.
The Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF) system allows anyone to collect prizes of up to R$ 1.700,16 (R$ 2.428,80 before taxes) at lottery outlets without presenting the physical ticket, simply by providing the identification code printed on the betting slip.
How the scam works
“This is a situation that is not common, but it is also not rare. It is a scam/illegality that happens with some frequency and is caused, in most cases, by photos of tickets that the bettors themselves share on social media,” explained Taurisano.
The businessman pointed out that whoever was responsible for the unauthorized withdrawal probably didn't know who the ticket belonged to. "Perhaps whoever did this doesn't even know that the original ticket belonged to the former president. But CEF (Caixa Econômica Federal) can find out the store and terminal, as well as the date/time the ticket was cashed, because, as I said, that number is the game's ID," he stated.
The incident took place at a lottery shop in Miracatu (SP) last Monday (20). According to Renato, the attendant checked the ticket and said that the amount had already been paid previously, advising him to go to a Caixa Econômica Federal branch to resolve the situation. According to information from the Metrópoles portal, the case generated distrust in the ex-president's brother about the security of the lottery payment system.
Origin of the vulnerability in the system
The feature that allows withdrawals without the physical ticket was created for specific situations, as Taurisano explained. “This possibility of claiming the prize by typing the code printed on the physical ticket was created for cases where the ticket had a printing error or even the lottery reading equipment was defective. An old rule that hasn't been updated. A rule that worked and didn't cause problems in a world that wasn't so digital and connected. This happens more often than it should in Brazil and around the world,” he emphasized.
The impact of this problem also affects lottery shop owners. "I've even paid out-of-my-own-pocket prizes to prevent customers from filing a complaint with Caixa's ombudsman," revealed the businessman.
Family connection to the lottery sector
Angelo Guido Bonturi Bolsonaro, the older brother of Jair Bolsonaro and Renato Bolsonaro, and his nephew own the Trilha da Sorte lottery shop, located in Eldorado, in the Vale do Ribeira region of São Paulo.
The lottery pool that generated the prize was organized between Renato, former president Jair Bolsonaro, and Mosart Aragão Pereira, a former presidential advisor. The three correctly guessed four numbers in the draw: 13, 21, 32, and 59. The bet was placed on December 20, 2025, as shown on the ticket released by Renato. On that date, the former president was detained at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília.
Renato, who is a pre-candidate for federal deputy for the PL party, had announced the prize on his social media on January 1st. "We started 2026 with luck! We got four numbers right in a Mega da Virada lottery pool. We play every year," he wrote at the time, showing off the ticket.
A similar case in Australia.
The problem is not limited to Brazil. In 2015, an Australian woman identified as Chantelle lost her prize after posting a selfie with her winning ticket on Facebook. Someone viewed the photo and used the barcode visible in the image to claim the prize before the rightful winner.
Chantelle had bet on the horse Prince Of Penzance during the Melbourne Cup. She initially won 900 Australian dollars, a value later adjusted to 825 Australian dollars, equivalent to approximately R$ 2.434 at the time.
After discovering the scam, the Australian woman expressed her outrage: “To be so despicable as to be obviously my friend on Facebook and use my photo to claim my prize. You are a tremendous idiot. You ruined my life.” Following the incident, Chantelle deleted her social media profile.
Distrust of Caixa
After the incident with his lottery ticket, Renato Bolsonaro expressed distrust towards Caixa Econômica Federal, the bank responsible for operating lotteries in the country. “I went to the lottery shop to collect the prize and reinvest it in another game. To my surprise, the attendant checked the ticket and told me that the game had already been paid for.” I asked: “How? The ticket is in my hand, in my possession, I didn't give it to anyone, and the card has a QR code to validate the bet,” he recounted.
In a later post, the former president's brother expressed his frustration: "There's nothing worse than winning and not getting the prize." He also questioned the credibility of the financial institution: "For me, the suspicion regarding the credibility of Caixa Econômica Federal's games is already shaken." There is still no information on when Renato Bolsonaro will go to the Caixa branch to try to resolve the problem.
