The State Police of Matera has served the Notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations, issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Matera, against a 21-year-old Neapolitan man, under investigation for aggravated fraud. The crime was apparently committed by two men, in collaboration with unidentified accomplices, who took possession of the sum of 5,700 euros and several gold jewels belonging to an elderly woman from Matera.
The episode dates back to September 2020, when the elderly woman (born in 1931) received a phone call from a man who pretended to be her nephew, urging her to hand over a large sum of money, as payment for the delivery of a package that would have been delivered shortly thereafter. However, on her phone it was not her nephew but an impostor, who allegedly convinced her to open the door to her alleged courier and hand him 4,000 euros. After a short time, the lady was contacted again and induced to deliver further money and jewels, with the promise of returning the goods once her nephew had paid off the debt. Thus, another 1,700 euros and several gold jewels were delivered to the courier, as a guarantee of successful delivery. During the events, the woman was unable to contact her real nephew, as her telephone line was busy, probably by another accomplice to the scam.
The investigations of the Flying Squad made it possible to first identify one of the couriers, already subjected to criminal proceedings in 2021. The identification of the second accomplice, however, required the analysis of the fragments of fingerprints detected by the Scientific Police on the package, delivered to woman and immediately seized by police officers.
