Twenty-nine people are under investigation in Sassari for aiding and abetting illegal immigration, impersonation, use of false documents, and the unauthorized possession and distribution of access codes to computer or telematic systems.
The investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office arose from inspections by the Carabinieri of the Labor Inspectorate in collaboration, between 2022 and 2025, with officials from the SUI (One-Stop Immigration Desk).
The investigation was based on cross-referencing data on applications submitted in Sassari with the planned influx of non-EU workers into Italy.
The suspects are alleged to have fraudulently used a Ministry of the Interior platform that allows employers to recruit labor, using 291 logins. They impersonated local construction, agricultural, and hospitality entrepreneurs, all unaware of the scheme, and attempted to smuggle in foreign workers, mostly from South Asian and African countries. And, had there not been adequate oversight, the applications could have been included in the "available quota" and received entry authorization.
A scam that allegedly targeted foreigners willing to leave their country for nonexistent jobs and housing. The investigation also corroborated the reports of entrepreneurs who discovered the scam, uncovering a well-organized criminal network, with thousands of business documents uploaded to the portal in a clear attempt to evade controls.
An example of the modus operandi is the discovery that, in one case, documents attached to applications had been taken from a database using the credentials of an entrepreneur who had died years earlier.
