An alleged “on the move” scammer was stopped and reported by the State Police in Biella, after selling a defective electric generator at a price well above its real value.
The man, a 36-year-old resident of Naples, is now accused of fraud in the exercise of commerce and fraud.
The story began on Tuesday afternoon, when a citizen of Biella went to the police station to report that he had been defrauded. He had just purchased a gasoline-powered electric generator for 300 euros from a street vendor.
Only later, however, did he realize that the device was malfunctioning and much less powerful than promised. A scam, apparently, well-conceived.
The manhunt and the blockade in Villanova Biellese
The alert triggered an immediate joint operation between the State Police and Carabinieri. Law enforcement organized a network of patrols to intercept the suspicious vehicle, a dark-colored DS car, of which the victim had provided a detailed description.
The searches were concentrated in different areas of the city, leading to the identification of the car of the crook in via Rosselli. The driver, in an attempt to escape control, tried to flee. However, thanks to the coordinated intervention of three police patrols and Carabinieri, the man was stopped in Villanova Biellese without incident.
The Scam “Kit”
During the search of the vehicle, the police officers found three other generators identical to the one reported. Further exposing the plan was a purchase invoice found on board that attested a price of just over 100 euros for each generator, later sold at three times the cost and with falsified technical characteristics.
Following the investigations, all generators were seized. The Police Chief of Biella also issued a mandatory expulsion order to the 36-year-old Neapolitan, which entails repatriation to the municipality of residence and a ban on returning to Biella for the next two years.
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Comments (1)
It is important that the authorities intervene in situations like these, but it is strange that people continue to trust street vendors. Often you can run into unpleasant surprises and buy defective products, as in the case of this scammer.