The number of complaints that the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office is working on to identify the network of fraudsters who allegedly struck in the name of Defense Minister Guido Crosetto or his staff, asking wealthy entrepreneurs and professionals for a lot of money, even millions, to pay non-existent ransoms for journalists held captive in the Middle East, has risen to three.
After Massimo Moratti's, there were also complaints from the Aleotti family, shareholder of the Menarini group, and Beretta, owner of the multinational arms manufacturer. Unlike the former president of Inter, they did not fall into the trap designed to be credible, starting with the voice of Crosetto himself.
So much so that Moratti explained in an interview: "These guys are good, it all seemed absolutely true. However, it can happen, but of course you don't expect something like this. But it happens to everyone..."
The entrepreneur and former president of Inter was bombarded with phone calls even in the days following the complaint, with other requests, at that point unsuccessful, for payments. Instead, the Gussalli Berettas, at the top of the company of the same name, as well as other well-known names in the world of business and professionals of a certain weight, immediately thought it was a scam.
They are part of a list of people contacted and on whom the Milanese PM Giovanni Tarzia, the prosecutor Marcello Viola and the Carabinieri of the investigative unit are carrying out investigations: among these Marco Tronchetti Provera, Diego Della Valle, Giorgio Armani, Patrizio Bertelli, husband of Miuccia Prada and president of the group, the Caltagirone and Del Vecchio families (not Leonardo) and many other wealthy VIPs.
From what has been learned, investigators and investigators are pursuing the trail of the money paid, which would have passed through foreign accounts, probably European, to then perhaps vanish into some tax haven. Furthermore, to succeed in the almost impossible mission of blocking the million unduly collected so far, they have activated all international cooperation channels. The mechanism devised by the network of scammers, who would have passed themselves off as the Minister of Defense imitating his voice or as a man of his staff or a manager, would have exploited, it is assumed, the recent case of Cecilia Sala. From there the calls requesting even dizzying sums for the release of journalists, using many cloned numbers, one with the Rome prefix and compatible with those of the ministry.
(Online Union)