Naples: Two elderly women defrauded within an hour, netting them €90.

Naples – Same script, same modus operandi, and a total haul of approximately €90 in jewelry and valuables. This is the outcome of two scams carried out on July 15th against two elderly women living alone, one in the Chiaia neighborhood and the other in Secondigliano.

The two incidents, which occurred just an hour apart, are now being investigated by officers from the San Ferdinando and Secondigliano police stations, who believe the scams may be the same criminal organization or a group of scammers operating using identical methods.

The phone call from the fake law enforcement representative

In both cases, it all started with a landline call. A man on the other end introduced himself as a law enforcement officer, claiming that the car registered to the victim had been used to carry out a jewelry store robbery.

To make his story credible, the self-styled investigator explained that a colleague, in civilian clothes, had gone to the old woman's home to verify that the jewels in her possession did not match those stolen during the robbery.

A carefully planned setup to gain the victims' trust and convince them to show or even hand over all their valuables.

The Chiaia heist: the fake policeman disappears with the valuables

The first victim is an 80-year-old woman, resident of Via Michelangelo Schipa, in Chiaia.
After the phone call, the elderly woman opened the door to a man who identified himself as a police officer in charge of the checks.

Convinced of the interlocutor's good faith, she showed him all the jewels kept in the house.
The scammer then asked her to open the safe in the bedroom as well. Taking advantage of the moment she left, the thief stole all the gold items, fleeing before the victim returned to the living room.

In shock, the 80-year-old contacted a family member, who immediately understood what had happened and alerted the police.

Officers from the San Ferdinando police station began their investigation by acquiring video surveillance footage in the area and gathering a description of the scammer, described as a tall Italian man wearing a blue shirt and cap. The forensic police also arrived on site to conduct investigations.

An hour after the second scam in Secondigliano

About an hour later, the same pattern repeated itself in Secondigliano. The victim, an 89-year-old woman, told officers at the local police station that she had received a phone call from a self-styled Carabiniere, who claimed her son had been arrested because his car had been used in a jewelry store robbery.

In this case too, the scammer announced the arrival of a colleague charged with collecting the jewelry stored in the home to verify its provenance.

The woman, unaware of the scam, handed over all the valuables on her doorstep to a young man dressed entirely in black, who then disappeared without a trace.

Investigations to identify the gang

Investigators are working to determine any possible connections between the two incidents by analyzing video surveillance systems and phone records. This is a complex task, as organizations specializing in this type of scam often use hard-to-trace phone numbers and rapidly change their operating methods.

The most widely accepted investigative hypothesis is that the two attacks were carried out by the same perpetrators or by members of the same gang, which specializes in targeting elderly people living alone.
The police renew their invitation to be wary of phone calls that mention accidents, arrests or urgent checks and to never hand over money or valuables to strangers, immediately contacting 112 or 113 in the presence of suspicious requests.