My father in law married woman from Brazil and she convinced him to sell the home he owned for 40 years and move to Rio de Janiro. They bought a property there and put the rest of the money in various bank accounts. After living there a few months money was depleted from three bank accounts. A few months later more money disappeared. Just last month we could not reach them the phone was disconnected. Today we received a call from my father in law to say he was deathly ill for many days and only now was able to call with the help of the Brazilian police because his phone was disconnected, the electricity was turned off, the house was stripped of any personal or identification items of his wife and she had disappeared and hasn't been seen for many days. Upon checking the banks with the remaining money, he was notified that all his money was withdrawn over the previous days. He thinks he was poisoned.
Is there anything I can do for him? Is there a law to protect him? He is a Dutch (Holland, Netherlands) citizen and was a US resident and was married in the US. Is this a potential case of fraud? Is it fraud when a spouse depletes the finances and runs away?
I appreciate any knowledge any of you can provide. Thanks.