Eighteen people are being investigated for fraud, receiving stolen goods and money laundering by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Spoleto, which has ordered police searches throughout Italy. According to investigators, they are responsible for the so-called 'scams romantic'.
The investigations led to the identification of a criminal organization structured on two levels. The first, highly hierarchical and predominantly radicalized in the countries of Central and Western Africa, was responsible - according to the investigative hypothesis - for creating fake social profiles to lure unsuspecting victims.
The second, instead, made up of dozens of people assigned to launder the fraudulently obtained money, made their accounts available or identified other people who, even unknowingly, provided the organization with their bank details to complete the financial transactions. The alleged business turnover set up would exceed one million euros.
The suspects, according to the prosecution, struck in several European and non-European countries, following a relatively simple modus operandi. Once they obtained contact with the potential victim on one of the numerous social networks.
The suspects began a virtual relationship until they convinced her to spontaneously pay sums of money to allow the virtual partner to solve various problems. In case of refusal, the suspects went as far as to carry out extortion, threatening the victims to publish 'intimate' photos and videos or legal consequences for alleged illicit behavior of the victim.
Then the money obtained was sorted into different bank accounts and used to purchase goods of various kinds - cars, building materials, air conditioners - which were then shipped to Nigeria in containers. The computer investigations carried out allowed us to ascertain the existence of groups on social networks, created with foreign numbers, to stay in touch and with the aim of managing the 'client victims', to launder the money, as well as the percentages to be shared in consideration of the type of the robbery carried out.
The investigations carried out by the Umbria Cyber Security Operations Center led to the identification and execution of 18 searches, coordinated by the Central Postal and Communications Police Service and the collaboration of the Operations Centers of Campania, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Sicily and Veneto, in the provinces of Modena, Padua, Genoa, Pesaro, Latina, Caserta, Campobasso, Palermo and the assistance of the Veneto Crime Prevention Department involved by the Central Anti-Crime Directorate.
Article published on May 9, 2023 - 20:00 pm
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