The agents of the State Police of Fano managed, by carrying out immediate investigations in a very short time frame, to track down two fraudsters who had been responsible for as many scams against the elderly in Fano, recovering all the stolen goods, in one case and , one part into the other.
Following the analysis of the phenomenon in question, the investigators of the Fano police station drew attention via the video surveillance system and the arrivals of trains at the railway station in the late morning and early afternoon hours, a time preferred by the fraudsters as they are certain to find the victims in their homes.
The modus operandi
The modus operandi ascertained by the agents was clearly outlined: the victim receives a phone call on her landline in which an elusive doctor informs her that her daughter is in hospital in serious conditions and that, to save her life, requires urgent injections of a life-saving drug from Switzerland costing 18 thousand euros. At the victim’s first timid complaints about not having this amount, the scammer on the phone increases the level of alarm by claiming that the daughter’s health situation was very serious as she contracted a virus from Spain with copious loss of blood from the mouth, therefore, invited again to scrape together as much money and jewelery as possible. To reinforce what was assumed and definitively overcome any possible doubts of the victim, her telephone communication continued making the latter believe she was speaking to her daughter. Although she had doubts about the tone of voice, which was different from that of her real daughter, the woman on the other end of the phone justified the difference with the fact that she was on oxygen and was rejecting blood, reiterating to her mother to hurry as she was in danger. of life. Having overcome all doubts, alarmed and confused, the victim was, at this point, convinced to leave the telephone communication open with the clear intention of excluding the possibility of alerting other people or the police and to take the money and wait outside the house for the hospital clerk to collect the agreed amount. Which, within a few minutes, happens with the arrival of a person who collects the money and valuables. The victim then picks up the phone again as the connection was left open and the interlocutor continues to invite her to stay on the phone to once again make sure that she does not warn anyone and then ends the communication abruptly. Realizing that she had been defrauded for a value of around 7,000 euros between the money and jewelery delivered, the victim, at this point, notified the police that she would immediately start the investigation. The man who had gone to the woman’s house was identified by the detectives of the police station and, after a few days, tracked down again in Fano where he decided to return to carry out further scams using, also in this last case, the train coming from nearby Romagna.
The police managed to find part of the valuables handed over to him by the victim and, furthermore, he voluntarily handed over, as partial compensation, around 1600 euros. The same was reported to the judicial authority for the crime of fraud.
The second case
In the second case the structure of the scam is identical, with only a few terms varying, i.e. instead of a serious illness and the doctor being a phantom member of the police force who reports a serious road accident in which the victim’s son was involved, requiring, immediately, of money for legal costs in order to avoid prison. The technique of making the first telephone contact on the landline is also identical, always at lunch time and of keeping the communication open for a long time so as not to make it easier to contact anyone and, furthermore, of listening to any conversations at home to be certain of the success of the deceit. The request in this case is 4112 euros for legal costs or, in the absence of this amount, jewels. In panic and despair, the woman collects everything she has at home, including her husband’s wedding ring, rings, silver ingots, watches, a gold necklace, and even her own “tooth”. son he lost when he was a child, worth several thousand euros.
The self-styled lawyer
Then, within a few minutes a self-styled lawyer shows up at the house to collect the agreed amount. Since in the meantime the victim’s elderly husband had immediately gotten into the car to go to Ancona where his son was reported to be and had managed, while he was travelling, to contact the latter by telephone, he therefore carried out the deception . Unable to notify her spouse directly due to the home phone always being busy, she therefore alerted a relative who urgently went to the woman and immediately called the emergency number 112 with the immediate intervention of the police station agents. With the collaboration of the Local Police and the analysis of the city’s video surveillance circuit, the investigators promptly identified a suspicious car which, immediately reported, was traced to Forlì by police officers shortly afterwards, finding all the stolen jewels inside. to the woman. The man on board the vehicle was reported at large for the crime of receiving stolen goods. The State Police’s advice to users is to pay close attention to the phone calls you receive and, in suspicious cases, to immediately report the fact to the emergency number 112, possibly via a mobile phone or by contacting a neighbour, without using the landline where the call was received.
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