Elderly man swindled in Rome, but car stranded: arrested on the highway

It seemed like a routine intervention to help two motorists stranded on the highway. Instead, it marked the beginning of an investigation that allowed police to uncover a scam involving an elderly man and recover the entire sum stolen.

Officers from the Rome South Highway Police Subsection, the Albano Highway Police Detachment, and the Flying Squad of the Rome Police Headquarters responded to a report to the Fiano Romano Highway Operations Room regarding a car stopped in the emergency lane on the A1 motorway, at kilometer 577.

There were two men on board, both without documents. Their behavior aroused the officers' suspicions: they were nervous and seemed particularly hasty in calling for a tow truck.

The money hidden in the car

The police then decided to investigate further and search the vehicle. They found approximately €1,000 in cash, carefully hidden under the rear floor mat.

But the most important discovery came shortly afterward. Under the car, inside a colored envelope and two newspaper wrappers, more bundles of cash worth approximately €38 had been hidden.

The two men maintained that the money wasn't theirs. This version didn't convince investigators, who began investigating the money's provenance.

The photo on the cell phone frames one of the two

In collaboration with the Operations Room of the Rome Police Headquarters and with the officers of the Flying Squad, the Police were able to reconstruct the origin of the sum and identify the victim.

A photograph found on the cell phone of one of the two men provided crucial evidence for the investigation. In the image, the suspect appeared with money in his hand. One detail allowed investigators to identify him more clearly: a clearly visible tattoo on the man's body.

The fake policeman scam

The victim is a 90-year-old man living in Rome. He had been contacted by phone by two people posing as Carabinieri officers.

Using the usual deception technique used by law enforcement, the scammers had told him that a family member was in trouble and that they would need to hand over money to help him.

The elderly man, convinced he was speaking to real policemen, had thus handed over all the cash in his possession.

The stolen goods were returned to the elderly man

Photo identification of the victim and the building's concierge helped confirm the identity of the alleged perpetrators of the scam.

The sum recovered by the police was then returned in full to the 90-year-old, who was able to get back the money stolen from him.

The two men were arrested and handed over to the Rome Prosecutor's Office. The arrests were later confirmed. At the end of the summary trial, one of the men was ordered to sign in, while the other was ordered to remain in residence.