Half-price wine could be the proceeds of crime, experts warn

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“This wine tastes like blood”, commented Luciano Stremel Barros in his talk at the Rio Wine and Food Festival, at the end of August. Oenophile, trained sommelier and president of the Brazilian Association of Winemakers, the economist was not referring to the animal aroma that is common — and appreciated — in some wines.

He spoke, rather, of the illegal trade in the drink on the border between Brazil and Argentina and the deaths linked to it.

In his presentation, Barros addressed the problem of bottles that reach Brazilian consumers via digital commerce platforms and social networks —and especially in WhatsApp groups—, for half the price of legally imported bottles.

President of the Institute for Economic and Social Development of Borders (Idesf), a private non-profit institution based in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), Barros has been following the numbers of illegal activities on the triple border for more than 20 years.

He says that, in the last two years, there has been a growth that he considers astonishing in the practice of the crime of embezzlement — it is not smuggling, another type of crime that involves bringing into the country a product whose importation is prohibited.

“Illegal wine has always entered,” he says. “But never before at this rate.”

The dizzying growth in misdirection accompanied the surge in wine consumption among Brazilians during the pandemic. In 2019, 87,575 bottles were seized throughout Brazil by the Federal Revenue Service.

In 2020, that number jumped to 280,044 and in 2021 to 585,239. The most vulnerable point for the entry of wines is Dionísio Cerqueira (SC), where there is a dry border. There alone, 120,097 bottles were seized in 2021.

“These are gangs that used to work in some other branch, smuggling cigarettes, trafficking in arms or drugs, and they turned the key because the wine became attractive”, evaluates Barros. “For them, the product doesn’t matter, the profit matters. They are violent criminals.”

Investigations show that action takes place on both sides of the border. And that, in both, there are already cases of murders linked to the activity.

“At the same time that there was an increase in wine consumption, the pandemic created restrictions for people to cross the border and buy wines legally”, says tax auditor Mark Tollemache, customs delegate of the Federal Revenue in Dionísio Cerqueira.

“During this period, there was also an increase in e-commerce. Today, irregular wine is distributed mainly through electronic platforms, where it is easier to camouflage themselves, to pass through reputable companies. There is also the issue of parallel exchange in Argentina, which even pays for the dollar 50% more than the official one.”

All this makes the crime very attractive to the dealer, and makes his product attract the attention of those who are looking for a good deal, but have no idea that he may be financing the crime. In certain wine e-commerce and marketplaces, it is not difficult to find renowned wines for half the price or even less.

However, some digital marketplaces, such as Magazine Luiza, have created a series of rules to prevent illegal items from being sold on their platform.

“Many consumers already have the flea behind their ear”, says Sérgio Queiroz, a partner at the Baco Multimídia group, which organizes the Rio Wine and Food Festival. “But, as the issue hadn’t been talked about much yet, it was passing. When in doubt, many continue to buy.”

The consumer also needs to know that, when wine is very cheap, there is a high chance that, in addition to having a metaphorical “blood taste”, it is actually a spoiled product. The bottle travels and can be stored in the worst conditions: under the sun, with pesticides, at the bottom of chicken coops.

“You pay BRL 100 for a wine that costs BRL 300, but you end up drinking one worth BRL 20”, says Ciro Lilla, owner of Mistral, official importer of wines from Bodega Catena Zapata, one of the main targets of criminals.

Catena wines are so popular that Lilla created a holographic Mistral seal to identify the legal bottles.

“All the [vinhos] Argentines, from now on, will carry this seal. People drink spoiled wine they bought from an unreliable source and then call here complaining it wasn’t good. People said to look at the back label. If it was in Spanish, it was descaminho. Now there are gangs falsifying the back label.”

Crimes around wine also include counterfeiting and cargo theft. On August 23, three men were arrested in Greater São Paulo for putting Chandon labels on bottles of cheaper sparkling wine.

Six days later, a wine container from Bodega Rutini, which was going up from the port of Santos to the distribution center of importer Zahil, in São Paulo, was stolen.

There are also scams on the internet, which are not exclusive to wine, but also happen around it. The most common is the one who tries to gain access to the WhatsApp number to ask for money from the victim’s contacts.

On Instagram, scammers first detect who is interested in wine. Using a fake profile of a winery, importer or wine store, they send a message saying that the user was drawn, and that he won a few bottles of wine.

To be entitled to them, all you need to do is send your full name, date of birth and telephone number. In doing so, the criminals then send a message asking the “winner” to enter a number.

It turns out that the number in question is an authorization code to change the phone number linked to your WhatsApp account. “Distrust is always the best way to protect yourself,” says Thiago Chinellato, police chief at DEIC’s Cyber ​​Crimes Division.

“Distrust especially when the advantage is very large”


how to protect yourself

  • When the price of a wine on the internet is much lower than average, be suspicious. You don’t have to abandon the offer right away, but redouble your attention.
  • On the internet, look to buy from well-known companies. See if the site has information such as address, telephone number and CNPJ. Throw this dice and the store name into an internet search and evaluate what comes up.
  • In marketplaces, look for information about who is making the sale and do all the checking on that name.
  • Give preference to websites and platforms with a physical and fiscal address in Brazil. In case of any problem, the Brazilian police and justice can only act on national territory.
  • Beware of wine sales groups on WhatsApp. Don’t believe that it was really the cousin of the group administrator who brought the wines in the suitcase “with the greatest care”.
  • When the bottle arrives at your house, look at the back label and check that it is in Portuguese, that it is registered with MAPA, and that it bears the name of the importer.

The liquid paths

What abuse can do to your wine

Heat

Wines brought in illegally often spend days in storage, or traveling to very hot places. A non-air-conditioned zinc shed can reach more than 50ºC, which literally cooks the aromas and takes away the acidity.

Cold

In its wanderings, the wine that comes from Mendoza passes through icy regions. Although less harmful than heat, the cold contracts the cork and can thus allow air to enter. In this case, the wine begins to oxidize and develop undesirable aromas.

Light

It is not uncommon for misguided wine to stay in the sun all day. Most wine bottles are darkened to protect the liquid from light, but ultraviolet rays can pass through even the darkest bottles. These rays cause the reaction of B vitamins with amino acids, substances that are part of wine. The reaction generates often sulfurous aromas.

Shake

The route often goes through dirt roads, which causes the wine to shake. All this movement is capable of inducing the most diverse chemical reactions.

Moisture

Too humid environments favor the creation of fungus in the cork. Already too dry can dry it, which causes oxidation.

Cross contamination

On these trips, the wine is often hidden in the chicken coop or stable, travels in a closed truck with pesticides and other chemicals. The cork is porous. Both aromas and toxic substances from the environment can penetrate it.

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