I met a guy living in Brazil once while I was staying at a hotel for work, he said he moved there specifically because he had enough of the governments reach into his personal matters.
Two days later, his (Brazilian) bank started to withhold his (non-Brazilian) salary payments for money laundering suspicions because he forgot to file one random document, he was frantically trying to find a way to open a bank account here in Europe, no one would let him with his Brazilian residency, and he had to resort to asking his wife for money. Another two days later, his lawyer told him to get lost because the Brazilian tax office knocked at his office door, he lost the preliminary court case to get his (to begin with, legal) money back, was stranded in Europe and they went to detain his wife. He couldn’t even open a cryptocurrency exchange account because not even they want to deal with the Brazilian authorities and the only ones operating in Brazil itself are on the governments leash.
It's not lawless at all. He also told me they have a personal identification number like the US SSN, but that it's much more widely used for almost anything, even if you want to rent an apartment or go shopping (his words, never verified it) and allows authorities to track their every (mostly financial) step. He emphasised you better have that number ready when you enter the country too.
I'm pretty sure the 30% of the Brazilians who don't have bank account, don't have these issues. Your friend picked to live in Brazil, but also didn't want to sacrifice his western conveniences (ie: A bank account, card, being connected to the "system"). He got the worst of both worlds.
Yes, Brazil is extremely bureaucratic and almost everything is linked to the CPF (Cadastro de Pessoa Física) tax registration number. It's necessary to open a bank account, get a phone, book a flight, rent a car, etc.
Two days later, his (Brazilian) bank started to withhold his (non-Brazilian) salary payments for money laundering suspicions because he forgot to file one random document, he was frantically trying to find a way to open a bank account here in Europe, no one would let him with his Brazilian residency, and he had to resort to asking his wife for money. Another two days later, his lawyer told him to get lost because the Brazilian tax office knocked at his office door, he lost the preliminary court case to get his (to begin with, legal) money back, was stranded in Europe and they went to detain his wife. He couldn’t even open a cryptocurrency exchange account because not even they want to deal with the Brazilian authorities and the only ones operating in Brazil itself are on the governments leash.
It's not lawless at all. He also told me they have a personal identification number like the US SSN, but that it's much more widely used for almost anything, even if you want to rent an apartment or go shopping (his words, never verified it) and allows authorities to track their every (mostly financial) step. He emphasised you better have that number ready when you enter the country too.