Ancona, two Neapolitans arrested for attempting to defraud an elderly woman.

Ancona – They exploited a mother's fear to pull off a stingy heist. But their trap was sprung in vain, slammed shut by the Flying Squad. A forty-year-old and a thirty-year-old, both from Naples, were arrested yesterday for attempting the classic fake Carabiniere scam on a 65-year-old woman.

The epilogue, in flagrante, after a delivery of jewels and money that turned into a race straight to the police station.

Yesterday morning, an elderly woman's phone rang, disrupting the domestic tranquility. On the other end, a voice that identified itself as that of a police marshal. CarabinieriThe news he gives her is a punch in the stomach: her daughter is said to have caused a very serious accident, hitting a cyclist who is now in critical condition, with the probable loss of the use of a leg.

The self-styled marshal paints a nightmare scenario: to avoid his daughter's immediate arrest and allow her to return home, a "guarantee" must be posted immediately. The distraught woman is instructed to gather everything of value: cash, gold jewelry, precious objects.

A "colleague" would have stopped by shortly thereafter to collect everything, with the reassurance – completely false – that everything would be returned to her once her daughter's situation had been clarified, also by virtue of her "clean criminal record".

The psychological trap had been sprung. The woman, gripped by anxiety, collected watches, gold jewelry, and high-end costume jewelry, worth a total of approximately €3.000, to which she added €250 in cash.

What the two scammers didn't know, however, was that their charade was already on the verge of being dismantled. The Ancona Flying Squad had already set up a targeted operation to combat this type of predatory crime. The police, likely alerted or following investigations, were already in action.

They then saw a car arrive and park near the victim's apartment building. One of the two accomplices got out of the car and entered the front door, only to leave again a few minutes later. He didn't have the loot with him, but he did have the certainty of having pulled off the heist.

As soon as he got back on the road, the man was stopped. Meanwhile, other officers were checking his accomplice, who remained behind the wheel. The searches proved fruitless: on the man who had shown up at the victim's home, the officers found the entire loot: the watch, the jewelry, the costume jewelry, and the cash, which the woman had just handed him at the door.

The evidence was overwhelming. The two were arrested for aggravated fraud and taken to the holding cells at the Ancona Police Headquarters, pending a validation hearing before a judge, scheduled for today.

The incident serves as a stark reminder: law enforcement officials remind you that no Carabinieri, marshal, or officer will ever ask for money or goods over the phone. If in doubt, they recommend hanging up and immediately calling the official Carabinieri station or police headquarters to verify.