The alarm about online and telephone scams continues in Cagliari. In the last month alone , the Carabinieri of Cagliari have reconstructed nine scams, identified as many suspects and blocked an illicit ring that had already stolen over fifty-three thousand euros from victims of all ages and throughout the province.
In a first case , an entrepreneur in his eighties was lured via WhatsApp with the promise of "miraculous" investments : guided step by step by a fake broker, he transferred the entire contents of his current accounts to different accounts identified only thanks to the intervention of the military who traced the money flows. In the same period of time, other savers paid online for RCA policies that were never activated , convinced by websites that imitated those of regular companies; the money ended up on prepaid cards registered to front men, a tool that has become frequent in the panorama of digital fraud.
There was no shortage of fake bank employees who stole device codes and sixteen thousand euros from a housewife , nor of fake advertisements for car parts or agricultural machinery posted on marketplaces: promptly after the bank transfer, the advertiser disappeared, leaving behind only an anonymous profile and a now inactive IBAN.
To complete the picture, a man responded to an ad for the sale of some works of art and, presenting himself at the seller's door, deceived him through a fake bank transfer made with his cell phone in front of the victim. All these episodes, although different from each other, are united by the clever use of technology and the emotional component to gain the trust of the victims before attacking them.
The Carabinieri Stations of Serramanna, Quartu Sant'Elena, Selargius, San Vito, Villamar, Arbus, Fluminimaggiore, Villaputzu and Guspini conducted patient and meticulous investigative work, cross-referencing bank flows, analyzing computer traces and acquiring video surveillance footage. Each element was carefully compared and verified in order to reconstruct the dynamics of the individual episodes and identify those responsible. The accuracy of the activities carried out allowed the military to deliver to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Cagliari a solid and well-confirmed circumstantial framework for each fraud, thus outlining the personal responsibilities of the suspects and providing a decisive contribution to the initiation of judicial proceedings.
