They had deposits credited for the sale of vintage cars and parts of them but after receiving them they disappeared. The Carabinieri of Genoa arrested five people (four in jail and one under house arrest) while two other people were subjected to the obligation to stay and sign in an operation that was called 'Old cars'.
The investigations began in 2020 after a series of reports of online scams. According to the investigations, the scammers published fake ads on specialized sites such as autoscout24 or subito.it with the indication of a telephone number for negotiations, registered to a front man. Once an agreement was reached, the buyer had to pay a deposit on a prepaid card, postal order, or money transfer registered to compliant people. Once they received the payment, they made themselves untraceable.
There are 22 scams committed and three attempted from December 2020 to March 2021. More details will be provided during a press conference, at 11, at the provincial command. Investigators hypothesize that there are about a hundred cases attributable to the suspects who the prosecutor's office accuses of criminal association aimed at fraud.
The mastermind of the gang, according to investigators, was Lorenzo Giannico, a 41-year-old from Genoa, together with his brother Pietro, 50. Also arrested were Ciro Contiero, 57, and Roberto Passarello, 46. The modus operandi was always the same: a sales ad was placed on the sites, once an agreement on the price was reached, a small deposit was paid on a postal pay and then the gang disappeared.
To set up the scam, the group contacted people with financial difficulties who, for 100 euros, registered rechargeable cards that were managed by the group. In total, 23 thousand euros were collected with the scam. Once the deposit was received, the number was deactivated. In some cases, the victims managed to contact the scammers again, who mocked them over the phone.
“You were stupid, we tricked you,” they said. The robberies were carried out in Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Sardinia, Puglia, Calabria, Campania and Abruzzo. The cars put up for sale ranged from 500s to Porsche 911s, from Alfa Romeos to Beetles. The Carabinieri traced Giannico by analyzing the flow of a postal account registered to a man who received social security benefits. The investigators noted an inflow of 10 thousand euros and several outflows to another postal account registered to Giannico.
Article published on 14 September 2021 - 14:28
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