Were you robbed during Carnival?

Heloisa Cristaldo, reporter for Agência Brasil - Citizens who have lost or had documents or checks stolen during Carnival, in addition to filing a police report at the nearest police station, should register the information with the Stolen Documents and Checks Service to reduce the risk of suffering losses or fraud. Registration can be done online or by phone at (11) 3373 7272, which operates daily from 8 am to 20 pm.

With the inclusion of the data, the information becomes available throughout Brazil, provisionally, for a period of ten business days. For it to remain available indefinitely, the consumer needs to send, within that timeframe, a police report and a formal declaration to Serasa Experian, a company specializing in credit analysis and information for decision-making.

In the case of checks, the information remains in the database for three business days, giving the account holder time to notify the bank, file a police report, and stop payment on the checks. After the stop payment is requested, the check alert will remain indefinitely in the company's database.

Citizens who have had checks stolen, lost, or misplaced should report the incident to their bank as quickly as possible and request cancellation. According to the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), the expenses for registering and controlling the cancellation or stop payment of checks are the responsibility of the account holder, who will have the guarantee from the bank that these checks will not be accepted. The fee to cover this expense should be charged only once.

Banks cannot charge customers a return fee when dealing with checks canceled due to theft or robbery accompanied by a police report.