Pesaro, 9 June 2024 – “I would like look them in the eyes. I would ask him to put himself in my mother’s shoes. An old woman like her could die of fear, and in that case they would have it on her conscience. They are without scruples and without conscience, my mother still has to recover.”
There is no rancor but a thousand questions in the words of MS, 49 years old, teacher, son of the 78 year old from Pesaro who last Thursday was scammed by telephone by a 45-year-old who pretended to be a marshal of the carabinieri convincing her to hand over all the gold she had in the house to her accomplice, her 16-year-old son.
The two were immediately tracked down by the police flying squad who arrested the two accomplices and recovered the stolen goods. Just for the PreccintThis year, 5 people have already been arrested red-handed and another 4 have been reported at large. “They played on the emotional aspect – says the son of the 78-year-old resident in via Giolitti – they were very good at keeping her busy on the phone. These characters study the movements and habits of elderly people alone at home. In our case, for example, my mother was called mid-morning when, usually, I am not with her because I am at school. Usually a lunch it’s at dinner I’m always at my parents’ house so they knew exactly what time to hit. My father was also not at home at the time. They told her that I had caused an accident. They knew my name and surname and it was easy to convince her of their reliability. They told her that I was under arrest, in an isolation cell and that the husband of the lady to whom I had caused serious injuries he reported me. ‘Her son has already contacted a lawyer and has also spoken to her husband.’ They told her that she needed money as collateral and that, alternatively, she was also fine with gold which they would return to her the following day. At this point they began to dictate to her an endless series of codes which, according to what they told her, were used to get her items returned. They almost hypnotized her by filling her head with all those codes that they dictated to her. Her voice on the other end would occasionally fade away and she would hang up. But this too was a trick to keep her stuck there. They called back 2 or 3 more times. She was isolated she couldn’t contact me because she was stuck on the landline. Perhaps the criminals were also aware of the fact that my mother does not have a cell phone.”
The woman on the other end of the line told her to weigh in all the gold he had at homeabout 100 grams worth almost 5 thousand euros and that the lawyer’s assistant to whom the son would have turned would come by shortly thereafter to pick it up. And so it was. “The boy rang the intercom and entered the house while my mother was still on the phone – continues the son –. At that point my mother became suspicious but the 16 year old was very quick. He took everything that was on the table and ran away. Shortly afterwards my father returned. Shortly thereafter the two criminals were tracked down by the police.”
