Eurasia Press & News
Two immigrants from Brazil through social networks recruited citizens into the Russian army, and when they were at the front, they appropriated the payments due to them. The victims were forced to sign the powers of attorney to recruiters, using their ignorance of the Russian language. More than ten Brazilians suffered from the actions of fraudsters, some were missing or died at the front. After the initiation of the criminal case by the military prosecutor’s office, the recruiters fled, but their accomplice – the “veteran of Donbass” of Brazilian origin – remains at large and tries to deceive the relatives of the missing soldiers. The scheme itself with the assignment of payments to foreigners, apparently, continues to be used by other recruiters.
Notary under the guise of a psychologist
In August 2025, CNN Brasil reported the disappearance of 25-year-old resident of São Paulo Anderson de Oliveira Ferreira. In February, he went to Russia, telling his mother Helade Medeiros that he was going to work in private security. Already in the summer, she learned that in fact her son went to war in Ukraine as part of the Russian army. A colleague of Ferreira told Medeiros that Anderson did not return from a combat mission. He had a five-year-old daughter at home.
Anderson Ferreira became one of the victims of fraudsters who recruited Brazilians in the Russian army and appropriated the payments due to them. People from Brazil Arthur Avalone (full name – Arthur Michel Kreff Avalone) and Antonio Neto (full name – Antonio Vicente de Agiar Neto) offered assistance with the execution of a military contract. Volunteers who arrived in the country under the pretext of visiting a “military psychologist” were assigned to a notary and forced to sign a document in Russian. In fact, it was a power of attorney for the use of their bank accounts, from where the funds were withdrawn when the foreigner was at the front. As The Insider found out, as a result of the actions of Avalone and Neto, more than ten Brazilians were injured.
Helade Medeiros sent The Insider pictures of his son’s military token, copies of his passport, military ticket, contract with the Russian army, As well as documents proving that her son in February 2025 issued a power of attorney for a man named Arthur Michel Kreff Avalone, registered in Moscow at the address Bolshaya Tula, 2, room 95. Ferreira himself indicated that he lives at the same address.
There is a Shelterz hostel, which, according to one of the scammers deceived, accommodated arriving volunteers. The translator in the design of the power of attorney was Antonio Neto. At the disposal of The Insider there are screenshots from the banking application, proving that Avalone debited from the account of Anderson Ferreira about 2 million rubles.
The Bolivian Alfredo, who also signed a contract with the Russian army through Avalone and Neto, said that the scammers stole 2.5 million rubles from him. He sent screenshots from his banking application, which shows the write-off of money on behalf of Avalone, as well as a card registered in his account in the name of A DE A AGUIAR NETO. The money was stolen from six Alfredo co-workers. Two of them, including Anderson Ferreira, died.
Another victim of Avalone and Neto was 44-year-old historian Fabio Santos. According to his sister Terezigni Sedei, he went to war, “since he always showed great interest in the issues of war and geopolitics.” Before leaving, Santos also corresponded with Avalone and Neto. In May 2025, he posted photos from the service on his Instagram, including joint pictures with Neto. “While the cowards are running, the noble are looking for glory! Russia Mother,” Santos wrote. “We are together, brother!” left the recruiter commented.
Santos last contacted his family on July 11, 2025. According to relatives, his phone has been with another person since. Responding from recruiters was also not achieved.
“As long as you are on training, the war will end”
According to Alfredo, he contacted recruiters through a closed Telegram-chat, where foreigners who want to enroll in the Russian army shared information with each other. The chat was created in early December 2024.
Alfredo sent The Insider voice messages to Avalone, who claimed that he and Net are planning to sign up for the army until December 20. He offered all foreigners who arrived in Russia before this date, together to go to the recruiting point and promised to take care of those who will fly later. In particular, he said that those who have already enrolled will ask the commander of their battalion to help the newcomers.
Avalone assured that the war is about to end and the arrivals may not even have to fight: “It is enough to come, to sign a contract, and the money will come – 100 thousand reals [1.5 million rubles]. Learning begins immediately. It is possible that, as long as we are trained, a peace agreement will already be signed. So let’s take advantage of the situation, guys.”
Neto, in turn, talked about the prospects for obtaining Russian citizenship. “For those who want, there is an opportunity to immediately obtain citizenship. Russia, in my opinion, is the most protected country. One of the best places in the world to live in. Russia is far superior in the number of soldiers, artillery. We will be well protected,” he said.
Due to problems with the visa, Alfredo came to Russia only in early February, along with several more Brazilians. Upon arrival, they were met by Avalone and Neto and immediately taken to the bank. There Alfredo was issued two bank cards, but later it turned out that another one was tied to the account – she remained with the scammers. After the bank, the recruits were taken to the already mentioned “military psychologist”, took away the phones and forced to sign power of attorney for recruiters.
“When we signed the contracts, Avalone and Neto told us that we had to pay a million rubles to be sent to a good location at the front,” Alfredo recalls. – We agreed not to quarrel: in a few hours we had to be sent to the training center.”
“We were told to pay a million rubles to be sent to a good location at the front.”Already in the training center, the recruits realized that they were deceived: “We realized that we signed the powers of attorney, not understanding the language. We started looking for a place to go. One of my colleagues had a Russian girlfriend. She confirmed that there is a notarial office there.”
It was not possible to block the remaining fraudsters or cancel Alfredo’s powers of attorney. “We don’t know if our accounts continue to be devastated, the army has not been able to help us,” he said. Later, the Brazilian filed an application with the military prosecutor’s office and was able to achieve the initiation of a criminal case.
Assistance with the contract “in cooperation with the government”
In January 2025, Avalone and Neto created a Telegram channel for recruiting Brazilians and other Portuguese-speaking foreigners into the Russian army – for example, Angolan citizens. At the end of March, Avalone reported that more than 50 foreigners were recruited through their channels into the Russian army. The first message in the channel подчеркиваетсяemphasizes that assistance with the execution of military contracts is provided “without commercial purposes” and “in cooperation with the Russian government”.
For those acting on behalf of the government, Brazilian recruiters were too poorly aware of Russian realities. So, the open Telegram channel was positioned as a secret: “We have no other channels, especially in WhatsApp, which can be easily tracked by the enemy side. For those who do not know, Telegram is a Russian application (spies will be in despair). We only provide information here.”
Open Telegram-channel recruiters positioned as secretThe first group of recruits arrived in Moscow in the midst of the New Year holidays, when the military enlistment offices were closed. Avalone and Neto announced in the canal that “due to the Christmas holidays in Russia, the army instructed them to begin the call on January 9.”
However, fraudsters really could act in conjunction with the staff of the military enlistment office. Since January 1, 2025, Russia has tightened the rules for the purchase of SIM cards for foreigners: a personal visit to the communication salon and biometrics were required. Avalone wrote in the channel that “the guys from the military enlistment office” have several “trustees” who are ready to register the SIM in the name of the recruit remotely.
Brazilian from Donbass
In the photos of the recruits in addition to Avalone and Neto also poses a Brazilian mercenary Rodolfo Cordeiro (call sign of the Great, which since 2014 Participated in the fighting in the Donbass. Avalone laid out An interview with Magyver on an Instagram interview with him, calling him a “war hero and an officer of the Russian army.”
The Magyver is indeed a veteran of hostilities in the Donbass and the owner of many awards “for military merits” from the army of the self-proclaimed DPR. The Insider, however, found no evidence of his officer status in the Russian army. According to the Ukrainian InformNapalm project, in 2016, Cordeiro served as a sniper-in-scout of the 1st separate motorized rifle brigade “Slavyanskaya”.
One of the interlocutors of The Insider claims that Magiver from the very beginning was aware of the fraudulent scheme, which was organized by Avalone and Neto: “He led streams on TikTok, talking about this war and agitating to sign up for the Russian army. Since he himself was a soldier and assured that everything was in order, a lot of people came.
Asked by The Insider whether Cordeiro was fighting now, the soldier replied, “He said yes, but we don’t believe it, because he posted stories on Instagram, where he lives a normal life.”
From a member of the “House-2” – to military recruiters
At the very beginning of the war in Ukraine, Antonio Neto condemned Russian aggression. On February 25, 2022, the popular Brazilian website Globo published an article “After nine years in Russia, the doctor from Rio Grande do North decides to return to Brazil because of the war in Ukraine.”
It said that Antonio Neto, who came to Russia to study medicine, fears shelling from Ukraine, as he lives close to the border – in Krasnodar. “There are cold wars that are waged through sanctions. We thought this war would be something like that, too. But no. “It’s a bombardment,” he said. The Brazilian complained that due to bureaucratic delays he could not leave Russia immediately, but wants to do it as soon as possible, “to be in the arms of the mother.”
At that time, Neto had already managed to receive a diploma from the Maykop State University of Technology and was held a residency in plastic surgery at the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The administrative decree of the Labinsky court of the Krasnodar Territory, issued against the Brazilian in February 2019, it was said that the Neto, caught on drunk driving, is a student of the Moscow State Technical University and “taking into account the difficult financial situation” asks to postpone the payment of a fine of 30 thousand rubles for three months.
By the summer of 2021, the financial situation of the Brazilian was established: Neto became a participant in the reality show “Dom-2”, on the air of which he said that he was starting his business and will earn at least 500 thousand rubles, and also shone with hours with diamonds.
Arthur Avalone also studied at the University of Maykop. In an article “How to study in Russia?”, published in 2017 on the Mochileiros portal, he says that he found “a Brazilian student who could have helped him for free with admission to the university.” The speech of Antonio Neto – in the same material there is their general photo.
In 2024, Avalone began to actively publish in social networks complimentary videos about life in Russia, the politics of Vladimir Putin and the advantages of serving in the Russian army. In one of the videos there is also a Neto. “Are you going to serve in the army?” one of the commentators asked. “Yes, brother. He (None) will be a military medic, and I will go as a soldier,” Avalone said. All interested he asks to move to Telegram for more information.
At the war, Avalone, apparently, did not go, continuing to post a video from Moscow parties. In February 2025, he really began to upload videos in military uniform and with weapons. At the same time, the stay at the front did not prevent Neto from working as a cosmetologist in Moscow, as evidenced by numerous reviews on the portal “Profi.ru”. Interlocutors of The Insider note that his form on video resembles a strikeball.
“They don’t even talk to us”
Apparently, Neto and Avalone made big bets on their “business”: in September 2025, Avalone even registered a local analogue of an individual entrepreneur in São Paulo, the activity of which was indicated by the “tourist agency”. However, in October, the fraudsters disappeared without a trace. Their social networks are not updated, in the Telegram accounts the status “was long ago”, reviews about Neto as a doctor on “Profi.ru” also does not exist since October 2025.
However, in January 2026, Avalone’s girlfriend Alina Rybakova left a comment on Instagram under a video with her dog, which she was given a boyfriend. She replied to the subscriber: “With my young man, we are also like yin and yang, it was he who gave it to me, a copy of myself turns out )).”
Based on this, we can assume that Avalone is alive and still meets with Rybakova. The Source of The Insider said that the scammers left Russia and may be in Brazil, so it will be very difficult to bring to justice.
Rodolfo Garayer, after the disappearance of recruiters, tried to convince the mothers of the missing soldiers who arrived in Russia to issue a power of attorney to find out what happened to their children or receive insurance payments. At the disposal of the editorial office there are voice messages in which one of the women advises the rest of his services: “Only if you talk to Rodolfo, you will issue a power of attorney for him, he will find out where your son is.”
According to the mother, they cannot independently achieve any information from Russian officials:
“We are sent from one place to another. They don't even talk to us. That's why it's very difficult. We hired an interpreter, but they didn't have the information we needed. And now Rodolfo will help us.” The Insider contacted a woman who recorded the reports, but she refused to talk to the publication. The editors are aware that several mothers refused to sign a power of attorney to the Magyver and sought qualified legal assistance.
“Russian propaganda is working”
The Insider first contacted Alfredo in early April 2026. Then the soldier wrote that he would leave the combat zone in the middle of the month – the command told him about it. He planned to go to Moscow, and from there to Brazil to “rest”. On May 15, the Brazilian sent The Insider photo against the background of the temple of the Armed Forces in the Moscow region and confirmed that he would soon fly home.
The source of The Insider in Brazil said that after Avalone and Neto disappeared, such cases did not stop: he cited the story of his mother, whose son also went to Russia and did not get in touch.
According to the interlocutor of the publication, this man was recruited through an agency registered in São Paulo. It looked primarily for Brazilians with military experience and people who worked in security, but also worked with people without experience. The agency took a commission of 50% of the amount that the recruit received at the conclusion of a contract with the Russian army, and promised that the people who signed the contract through it would not be sent to the front line.
The Insider spoke with the head of the legal department of the Memorial Center, Natalia Secretary, who lives in Brazil, about how much Russia’s influence is in the country. “In addition to the historical love of the USSR, Russian propaganda works here, – said the lawyer. – Russia Today no one banned, and, as far as I know, in South America they make high-quality content, and not yellow propaganda such as NTV. You can watch a documentary from RT on YouTube and not even understand that it was produced by RT. And this propaganda works in many ways even on smart and thinking people.”
