Mondragone – A twenty-year-old of Ukrainian origin, believed to be the “courier” of a gang specializing in scams on the elderly with the tried and tested ploy of the fake accident, has been arrested by the State Police.
The man is now being held in prison Santa Maria Capua Vetere, at the disposal of the Judicial Authority. The episode that led to the arrest dates back to October 11, when an elderly Roman lady fell into the trap.
The victim received a phone call from a self-styled carabiniere who gave her shocking news: her son, who works in Milan, had run over an elderly woman with his scooter and was under arrest.
“If you give me your cell phone number, I will have the lawyer contact you to find a solution and save your son's criminal record,” the voice on the phone reportedly said. The woman, understandably upset and convinced by the plausibility of the story, lost her lucidity, falling for the scam.
The scam script involved three key figures: the fake policeman, a supposed lawyer and the “courier” in charge of collecting the valuables.
The fake carabiniere asked the victim for a sum of 10.000 euros as an “oblation”. He then convinced her to put aside her gold jewelry and trinkets, assuring her that a lawyer would contact her to mediate the situation. The woman, trusting the fake lawyer and driven by fear for her son, provided her cell phone number, receiving continuous “reassuring” phone calls.
At that point, the “courier” showed up at the victim’s house to collect the valuables, delivered in two separate moments, half an hour apart. Only later, telling her daughter what had happened, did the old woman realize she had been scammed: her son had never called or caused any accident.
The investigations conducted by the Esquilino Police Station in Rome, coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office, allowed the "courier" to be identified thanks to video surveillance images and the testimony of the victim, who provided a crucial detail: a pair of glasses worn by the man. The rental vehicle used for the collections also proved to be fundamental to the investigations.
The young man, a twenty-year-old Ukrainian, was tracked down and arrested in Mondragone, in the province of Caserta. His capture represents a significant step in the fight against this type of crime that exploits the good faith and fragility of elderly people.
Article published on 3 June 2025 - 14:32
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