On a morning in January 2024, the Carabinieri of the station Rizziconi they intervened following a phone call reporting a scam committed against a lady over seventy years old. The caller was the victim’s daughter who, having realized the terrible situation her mother was in, had decided to entrust her to the Carabinieri.
Once they reached the woman’s house, the story that unfolded before the eyes of the operators was clear: the old woman had suffered a scam following a call from a self-styled Carabiniere and an equally self-styled Lawyer. The scammer on the other end of the phone, in fact, would have told the victim that his daughter, following a serious road accident caused by her, had caused serious injuries to a woman who was now in very serious health conditions. The “lawyer” therefore suggested that the old woman remedy the incident, so as not to fall into legal repercussions, by paying a fine of 3380 euros, specifying that the payment could be made in cash or even through the delivery of gold jewellery. .
The woman, initially confused by this first phone call, shortly after received a second one from a man who described himself as “the Marshal of Gioia Tauro”. The self-styled Carabiniere reassured her lady, reassuring her that her daughter was fine with her, and confirmed to the old woman the need to hand over the sum of money. Convinced after the call from “Marshal”, the victim therefore decided to hand over several precious jewels.
Maintained in connection by telephone, the lady was reached in front of her home by a woman, who passed herself off as “responsible for debt collection”, and handed over his assets totaling over half a kilo of gold.
After having handled the stolen goods, the self-styled doctor drove away in the car. Only after calling her daughter did the elderly lady realize she had been the subject of a scam and the police were contacted.
Subsequently, after painstaking investigative activity, the Carabinieri of the Rizziconi station managed to untangle the complex sequence of events that led to the creation of the criminal framework, deferring a woman from Campania recognized as the material perpetrator of the crime.
These types of crimes, leveraging the sense of trust that the Carabinieri gives to the population, take advantage of this security to convince the weakest victims to hand over goods and other benefits. A modus operandi already known to the police force that, to anticipate the phenomenon, it frequently organizes meetings to raise awareness on the topic of the groups most vulnerable to this type of phenomenon, because a more aware society is a society better able to defend itself and recognize good from evil . The Carabinieri, always on the citizen’s side, will continue in its work to defend the population, both by repressing crimes and by preventing subtle forms of crime such as the one described here.
The proceeding is currently pending in the preliminary investigation phase and the actual responsibility of the suspect will be examined during the subsequent trial.
