A man was arrested in Sassari in flagrante delicto on suspicion of aggravated fraud against several elderly people .
The arrest was made after several reports to 112 of scams involving the so-called "false law enforcement officer" method. According to the findings of the Sassari Flying Squad, the perpetrators contacted victims by phone, posing as law enforcement officials, and demanded payment for alleged criminal proceedings and various investigations.
The first report concerned an attempted scam against an elderly woman over a hundred years old living on Via Caprera. Investigators set up a surveillance unit, preventing the crime from being carried out. Shortly thereafter, another call was received to the operations room, reporting a recent scam on Via Monsignor Marongiu against an elderly woman. A similar incident was subsequently reported on Via Maddalena, also against an elderly person. Another report, of an attempted scam on Via Duca degli Abruzzi, led to the arrest of an alleged perpetrator. The victim's son, upon discovering the attempted scam against his mother, immediately contacted the police. They set up a surveillance unit near the victim's home and followed the entire negotiation and the request for the woman to hand over the jewelry .
The young man, arriving a few minutes later at the building indicated by his accomplices, immediately became suspicious and walked away, but the officers followed and arrested him shortly thereafter. They discovered that he was having a conversation on WhatsApp, receiving real-time operational instructions on targets, the location of the apartment, the victim's identity, and even the name of the family member the accomplices were trying to evict from the home. These messages were immediately deleted remotely. A Google Maps search for the victim's address was also found on the phone.
After filing the reports, a woman recognized the arrested man as the person who had shown up at her home to collect money and jewelry.
The Flying Squad's investigations continue to identify the other perpetrators.