This time the intended victim, a woman over eighty, was identified by the scammers in a hamlet of Teramo “Villa Vomano”.
The script always the same, on the telephone comes a communication from a self-styled Carabinieri marshal who informs the old woman of her son’s involvement in a road accident and that for compensation for damages the sum of 2,000 euros is needed to be paid to a lawyer who would be there just past home. The panicked woman begins to cry while remaining in contact by telephone and it is here that her husband intervenes and takes the receiver and informs the interlocutor that he would contact the police to verify the genuineness of the request. At this point the call was interrupted by the scammer. The man then turned to the police and shortly afterwards he and his wife formalized the complaint regarding the attempted fraud.
At a preventative level, the Teramo Army has already launched extensive information campaigns for years to avoid these types of crimes, an activity which will continue unabated with information meetings both in churches, in community centers and in condominium meetings. This preventive strategy is objectively producing the desired results and therefore it is reiterated that no police force, body, insurance etc. requests the payment of money to free a relative, or to pay insurance or a debt, etc.In cases of doubt, it is always advisable to contact 112 before undertaking any initiative. Citizens are also asked to report suspicious people and/or vehicles loitering near homes where elderly people live to the police.
At a repressive level, the Carabinieri are acquiring useful elements in the area in order to identify the scammers who contacted the woman from Teramo.
