Biella– They used the most classic and cruel deception, that of the fake Carabiniere, to steal a lifetime's worth of memories from an elderly woman. But this time the plan failed, thanks to the quick intervention of a citizen and the real military.
Two twenty-year-olds, both from the province of Naples, were arrested on charges of aggravated fraud after stealing over a kilo of gold and precious metals from a small town in the Biella area.
The phone call from the fake marshal
The incident unfolded on the morning of February 26th. It all began with a phone call: on the other end of the line, a man identifying himself as a "Marshal of the Carabinieri of Ivrea." In an authoritative voice, the scammer informed the elderly woman of the need for an urgent check on the jewelry stored in her home.
The motive? The valuables could have been the proceeds of a robbery that had occurred the previous day in the city. Having fallen into the trap, the woman gathered her family's gold, confident she would cooperate with justice, and waited for the "expert" assigned to carry out the "verification."
The deception of the "expert" and the false report
Shortly thereafter, the phantom expert showed up at the elderly woman's door. After a quick and fake examination of the jewelry, the man confirmed to the victim that it was indeed the stolen property she was seeking and that it should therefore be seized. To make the scene even more credible, the scammer even had the woman fill out a fake "report" of the transactions. Once the charade was over, the man fled with the loot to meet his accomplice, who was waiting for him at the Biella train station.
The providential warning and the arrest
However, the two criminals' plan had a flaw. The accomplice waiting at the station had aroused the suspicions of an observant citizen, who promptly reported the situation to the Carabinieri. Within minutes, officers from the Biella operations unit arrived on the scene, identifying and monitoring the suspect.
Shortly afterward, they saw the other young man arrive, smiling and satisfied with the heist they had just pulled off. The two were immediately stopped and searched: inside a backpack, the Carabinieri found the entire haul, over a kilo of gold jewelry and watches.
The two twenty-year-olds were taken to the police station, while officers reconstructed their movements and identified the victim. The elderly woman, surprised by the arrival of the real Carabinieri, was able to breathe a sigh of relief when she regained possession of her valuables. The two Neapolitan scammers, however, were sent to prison: by order of the public prosecutor on duty at the Biella Public Prosecutor's Office, they were arrested for aggravated fraud pending a validation hearing.
Changes and revisions to this article
- Article updated on 28/02/2026 at 16:15 PM - Title typo corrected
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
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