Elderly scams in Liguria: Naples-based network targeted: 21 arrests

Naples – A new attack on the elderly scam network with ramifications in Northern Italy and its operational base in Naples. Since the early hours of this morning, the Carabinieri of the Genoa Provincial Command, acting on behalf of the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office, have been carrying out a large-scale nationwide operation aimed at dismantling a criminal organization specializing in defrauding the elderly.

Investigators are targeting a structured group, with a stable organization and well-defined roles, that allegedly operated primarily in Liguria and several northern regions, exploiting the victims' vulnerability and employing the tried-and-tested ploys of "false relatives" and "fake law enforcement officers."

The Carabinieri are executing 21 precautionary measures issued by the Court of Naples at the request of the local prosecutor's office. The recipients of the measures are considered seriously suspected, in various capacities, of being part of the criminal organization, with tasks ranging from managing telephone calls to physically collecting the money and valuables stolen from the defrauded elderly people.

According to investigators' reconstruction, the group had its decision-making center in Naples, while the "trips" to the North were precisely planned, choosing areas and targets, and ensuring the rapid dispersal of the perpetrators immediately after the robberies.

Today's operation builds on investigations conducted in February and June 2025, which uncovered a now structural phenomenon: groups of Neapolitan fraudsters who regularly travel to Liguria and Northern Italy to strike, relying on logistical bases far from the crime scenes and a network of accomplices ready to move quickly.

In those cases, too, investigations had highlighted a well-established criminal model, capable of replicating the same schemes in different territories, causing significant economic damage and a strong emotional impact on the victims, often lonely and vulnerable people.

The investigations, still ongoing, now aim to outline the organization's entire network of contacts and quantify the overall number of scams carried out, while further developments and new measures against other individuals involved cannot be excluded.