A man has been arrested in Alghero, a 37-year-old from Caserta believed to be responsible for at least two scams against elderly people in Nureci and Samugheo , in the Oristano area.
The scam is the one now used by many criminals: the fake Carabiniere scam . The usual scheme was used in Nureci, where Carabinieri personnel responded to the home of an elderly woman who had been contacted by a fake marshal, who told her that her sister had run over a pregnant woman and that the only way to avoid serious criminal charges was to hand over €16,000 in cash to an accomplice who shortly thereafter showed up at the woman's home. Fortunately, the criminals were unable to take the money and were forced to flee when the real Carabinieri arrived .
The scam on an elderly man in Samugheo, however, was successful, and the thieves didn't use the usual incident as a pretext. The man had been contacted by a fake Carabiniere, who led him to believe he was conducting a house search as part of a robbery investigation. To avoid legal repercussions , the man was supposed to hand over all his valuables to another Carabiniere (a fake one, of course), who was tasked with comparing them with those stolen in the fake robbery. And so he did, handing over gold jewelry and cash worth €12,000 to the stranger, who disappeared without a trace.
Subsequent investigations by the Carabinieri allowed them to identify and track down the scammers. Last night, after a lengthy tailing, the Carabinieri intervened at a hotel in Alghero and arrested the 37-year-old. After completing the usual formalities, he was taken to Bancali prison : he is charged with aggravated extortion and aggravated fraud. The alleged accomplice was released, and both were ordered to be removed.
The operation was carried out by the Ghilarza Carabinieri Company, together with the Investigative Unit of the Nuoro Provincial Command and the Bitti Carabinieri Company, with operational support from the Alghero Company.
The investigation doesn't end there; investigators are convinced they're dealing with a well-established group with well-oiled mechanisms. The organized travel from Campania, the searches for victims, their families, and their loved ones, the meticulously planned robberies, down to the smallest detail. All these circumstances suggest the existence of a fully-fledged organization.
