I disagree.

Brazil is known throughout the world as ground zero for scams. Everything from pocket theft to huge government scams. Do a search on Google, I read [on google] a 'Top 50 Scam Countries in the World' and sure enough Brazil was #1. And most pople who get scammed rarely ever talk about, or want to. Right now I know five people that got screwed in Brazil (2 in my group-they are still active investors) and none would come on this Forum and post about it. Other Latin countries have less scamming -- thats a fact. why? Not sure... but I think there might be something deeply engrained in Brazilian culture that makes people do the most unethical things when their back is against the wall, or just plain bad character. Remember the Nigerian Email Scam that milked millions of $ from innocent people around the world? Guess who? Recife, Brazil! That's right, some lowlife but highly intelligent Geek Brasileiros working out of Olinda.

French 'do gooders' trying to make a difference in the world helping the poor [in Rio de Janeiro]: BBC NEWS | Americas | French aid workers killed in Rio