Milan – Stopped in a supermarket forecourt with a suspicious backpack, without identification, and using a false name. This marked the end of yet another criminal activity for a 22-year-old from Benevento. He was arrested Wednesday in Milan for aggravated fraud against an elderly woman.
This is his eighth arrest in recent months in various Italian cities.
The operation is part of a series of targeted checks that the State Police of the Bonola Police Station, together with the local police, have been conducting in the area for some time to combat the escalation of scams targeting the elderly.
The young man was noticed by officers while he was standing around with caution. When asked for identification, he stated that he had no documents and provided false personal details.
An officer, simulating a database check, told him that he had numerous criminal records. At that point, the boy caved, admitting his guilt and showing the contents of the backpack: jewelry and trinkets with an estimated value of approximately €30, recently stolen from the home of an elderly Milanese woman.
The script: "Your ID found in the robbers' car"
The scam, according to investigators, follows a well-established pattern. The victim received a phone call from a self-styled Carabiniere informing her that one of her documents had been found inside a car used by alleged Albanian robbers for a robbery on Via Montenapoleone.
Under the pretext of verifying that the jewelry stored in the house wasn't the proceeds of the robbery, the man had convinced the elderly woman to pack her jewelry and valuables. At the same time, a fake investigator had tricked the woman's fifty-year-old daughter, in two different cars, into driving to a police station for "investigations."
It was during these travels that the scammers ran afoul of local checkpoints. The 22-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated fraud.
Eight arrests in a few months
Investigations revealed that the young man had already been arrested eight times in recent months in various Italian cities. Just two days earlier, he had been in Florence, where he is suspected of having carried out similar scams.
According to investigators, the boy operated through a network of "telephone operators" in Naples: from there, the numbers of potential victims were obtained and the fraudulent calls were initiated, while so-called "couriers" operated throughout the area, tasked with collecting money and valuables.
The 22-year-old told officers that he had begun committing fraud to cover large drug debts he had incurred in the Secondigliano area.
The jewels were returned to their rightful owner.
The Police's appeal
Bonola Police Station Director Carmine Mele reiterates his call for victims to report the incident. "This often doesn't happen because people are ashamed and don't even tell their families what happened. But reporting is essential to breaking the chain of scams and identifying organized networks," he emphasized.
A phenomenon that continues to affect the most vulnerable groups, fueled by flexible and itinerant criminal organizations, capable of moving rapidly from one city to another and replicating the same script with impressive effectiveness.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (3)
I hope this case brings greater safety to the elderly. Scams have become too common, and it's unfair that the most vulnerable should suffer this way. Urgent action is needed.
The strange thing is that there have never been stronger warnings from the authorities about these scams. It's truly worrying to see that older people are increasingly being targeted by criminals; more attention is needed.
It's incredible how such a young man can already have eight arrests. It seems like there's a huge problem with enforcement. I don't understand how they could get this far without stopping first.