Brazil is crazy!
Some of the scammers were killed by the investors, some are simulating their own death to escape the investors.
Some investors camped at corporate headquarters.
Worst of all, in some cases, the schemes are publicized in the media as advertising as a good investment, with celebrity backing and all.
There was a similar incident reported from India as well. Around one month ago, one individual (Abdul Shukoor) was killed by his own associates in the city of Dehra Dun, after he cheated them of close to $70 million in a cryptocurrency scam. As per media reports, he had scammed more than 50,000 people by promising them sky high returns by investing in cryptocurrency.
In third world countries such as India and Brazil, the law enforcement agencies are not prepared enough to deal with crimes involving cryptocurrency. As a result, some of the investors who get cheated will resort to their own ways to get revenge. And this was not an isolated incident. I have read about similar incidents from all around the globe.
Some of the scammers are simulating their own death, as you had posted. A perfect example is that of Gerald Cotten (the owner of the Quadriga CX cryptocurrency exchange). He had used the customer funds for trading and in the end he incurred huge losses, which he was unable to repay.