Unfulfilled promises of love and an empty bank account. This is the sad story of a 74-year-old from Pieve Torina (Macerata), victim of a romance scam that cost him 137 thousand euros between 2018 and 2024.
I Carabinieri of Pieve Torina have reported two people for aggravated and continued fraud: a 29-year-old from Mantua and a 49-year-old from Pellezzano (Salerno). The investigations, started in August after the victim's complaint, have reconstructed two separate episodes in which the elderly man was defrauded through social media.
The scam: money in exchange for false promises of love
The victim said he had started two virtual relationships between 2018 and 2024, both born on social media and developed through chat. The interlocutors, with the promise of living together and a future together, convinced him to pay large sums of money, justifying the lack of meeting with continuous misfortunes and personal problems.
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In the first case, between 2018 and 2019, the man paid 35 thousand euros. In the second scam, which occurred between 2019 and 2024, the amount rose to over 102 thousand euros.
The investigation and the discovery of the deception
Thanks to a careful banking and telematic analysis, the Carabinieri discovered that behind the scam there was not only a woman, but also a man. By following the money flows, the military were able to identify the holders of the bank accounts to which the 74-year-old had made the transfers.
The two scammers were reported to the judicial authorities, putting an end to a scam that, for six years, drained the elderly man's savings.
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Comments (1)
The story of the gentleman from Pieve Torina is very sad, I don't understand how something like this can happen. People should be more careful about who they trust, especially online where there are so many scammers who exploit people.