Valuables worth a total of €50.000 returned to two Paduan victims who fell for the fake accident scam.
The stolen goods were recovered thanks to the collaboration between the Padua mobile squad and the Rome railway police, who intercepted the two Campanian scammers at Termini station as they were returning to Naples.
The scams took place in Padua on May 13th and June 11th, causing two women to fall into a dangerous trap.
The first episode of the scam
The first incident involved an 87-year-old woman. A 23-year-old scammer, with a criminal record and required to sign in at Arpino di Casoria (Naples), posed over the phone as a marshal.
He tricked the woman by telling her that her granddaughter had caused an accident by hitting an 82-year-old man and that she would end up in prison if she did not pay for the damages.
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Using this excuse, the scammer showed up at the elderly woman's home and demanded the delivery of rings, necklaces, gold bracelets, and cash worth €9.000, also stealing her debit card and PIN.
The use of the ATM allowed the mobile police to identify the culprit through video surveillance. The young man was seen arriving at the Padua station, from where a report was made to the Rome railway police. He was discovered trying to hide in a train restroom, with his valuables and €1.000 withdrawn from the Padua ATM still in his pocket.
The second episode
The second episode involved a 60-year-old woman, to whom the youngest of the two scammers, just 18 years old and with no criminal record, managed to steal jewels worth 40.000 euros.
Using a similar tactic to the previous one, the young man went to the woman's home to receive bracelets, necklaces and watches, then headed to the station to take the Frecciarossa to Naples.
Cooperation between local Carabinieri and the police allowed them to identify the young man through surveillance cameras. The Rome railway police stopped him on the train, finding all the stolen goods inside his backpack.
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