Bologna, 24 March 2022 – Four in cells and two under house arrest: this is the good result of an investigation by the carabinieri of Bologna and Naples to thwart a gang specialized in the hateful crime of elder fraud. The six are in fact all accused of criminal association aimed at committing aggravated scams to the detriment of the elderly, scams committed throughout Italy: 70 elderly victims with a profit of about 200 thousand euros. But that’s not enough, some are also accused of drug trafficking, according to the accusations they had organized the import of marijuana from Spain, which was then destined for the Neapolitan market.
The investigation started with some scams carried out in the province of Bologna between October 2020 and May 2021: the victims were deceived with a method that later became a classic: the fake marshal or the fake lawyer asked the elderly for money to help a relative ( often a son) – they say – in serious trouble.
After consulting some internet sites, the carabinieri found the names and telephone numbers of people who mulched the phone for marshals or lawyers and told the story of a serious accident of which their son or grandson had been the victim. “To avoid legal consequences, hand over a large sum of money immediately”, they warned the frightened elderly people. And if the money was not readily available, they also took jewelry or wedding rings.
To convince them, they invited their victims to hang up the receiver and contact 112. But at the other end of the line an accomplice of the telephone operator always answered. During the cobfersation, they managed to get some details – the name of the son or the work logo – which, immediately afterwards, the false lawyer used to ask for the payment of a “bail”.
In recent months, the same investigation has led to the arrest of several people, now the six are accused of being part of the ‘call center’ from which the phone calls to the victims started, in Spain, more precisely in the city of Barcelona, from where, using Iberian sims, the scam was organized. The carabinieri also put the seals on a gold shop in Naples where the gang was preparing the jewels that had been delivered in the course of the scams.