The modus operandi is always the same: the phone call from a self-styled member of the police force, the totally invented story of the serious accident caused by a close relative and the request for cash or precious objects to be delivered immediately to an emissary of the elusive Agent or Carabiniere to prevent the relative alleged to be responsible for the accident from ending up in prison.
As is now the case throughout the national territory, also the city of Reggio Calabria it has become a destination for individuals, mostly of Neapolitan origin, who move around Italy every day waiting for the indication to come from the “operational base” to go and “help” the culprit’s family. The targets are always people elderly who are literally bombarded by simultaneous phone calls on cell phones and landlines and faced with a very serious and urgent situation involving a relative who immediately needs as much money as possible to avoid worse trouble.
The latest episodes in the city date back to May 28th and June 11th. In the first case, a lady in her eighties from Reggio was reached by multiple phone calls on the two telephone accounts in her possession and informed of a serious road accident caused by her son who needed a sum of money to avoid imprisonment. Dazed by the news, and blocked for more than an hour and a half on the two telephone lines to prevent her from blocking help from others, the elderly woman handed over 120 euros in cash to the telephone operator’s accomplice, who arrived a few moments later at her home. cash and jewelery worth a few thousand euros. The lady then, worried by the strange situation, decided to interrupt the conversation and inform a friend of hers who, having immediately noticed her scam, alerted the police.
Having received the communication, the Flying Squad investigators quickly managed to identify the car used by the subject for the escape and report it to their colleagues from the Sala Consilina Traffic Police. The highway patrol, having started the search, blocked the vehicle with the subject on board and found the money and jewelery previously stolen from the victim. The young man of Campania origins was therefore reported in a state of freedom for aggravated fraud in collaboration with unknown persons.
Last week’s episode, very similar, risked turning into something much more serious for a man of almost ninety years old living in the city centre. The criminals, having arrived at the home of an elderly couple (class 37 him, class 47 she) and using the stratagem described above, had managed to take possession of 2000 euros in cash and jewels weighing almost 200 grams. The husband, however, realizing that it could be a scam, attempted to recover his assets, provoking the reaction of the criminal who, in order to escape, violently pushed the elderly man causing him to fall to the ground with the result of a trauma cranial and a lacerated bruise to the head with a prognosis of 15 days.
The Flying Squad policemen, in this case too, quickly identified the car in which the perpetrators were travelling, who, in the meantime, had moved to the Catania area. Colleagues from the Catania Flying Squad, informed of the situation, managed, shortly afterwards, to block the vehicle with the two subjects on board; the subsequent search carried out at the B&B where they had stayed then made it possible to recover the entire stolen goods.
For this last case, the local Public Prosecutor’s Office, having taken over the investigation, ordered the arrest of both subjects as they were seriously suspected of the crimes of improper robbery and aggravated personal injury. The provision was carried out on 19 June by agents of the Flying Squad of Reggio Calabria with the collaboration of the Flying Squad of Naples and the police stations of Acerra and Ponticelli, where the suspects are resident. Following the validation judgement, the precautionary measure of house arrest was ordered for both. It should be noted that preliminary investigations are still in progress and that the principle of not guilty applies to all suspects until a final sentence has been reached.
Once again, a general invitation comes from the Police Headquarters to pay maximum attention to all situations that appear anomalous, always being wary. Perhaps by contacting the single emergency number of those who present themselves as belonging to the police and ask for the delivery of money or jewels to avoid judicial consequences for anyone.
