A tested and ruthless script, played on the vulnerability of an elderly person. It is the one that took place in San Calogero on 27 October last year, but whose judicial trail has closed in recent days with the identification and denunciation of the alleged perpetrators. The Carabinieri of San Calogero supported by their Campania colleagues from the Pomigliano d’Arco and Naples Marianella stations, have in fact implemented an application order of the precautionary measure of the obligation to stay.
The provision, issued by the Judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Vibo Valentia, affected two individuals resident in Naples and Afragola respectively, considered seriously suspected of aggravated fraud. The disputed facts date back to last autumn, when the victim, an elderly woman living in the center of Vibo, ended up in the net of the so-called “fake policeman” method.
It all started with a phone call: on the other end of the line a man identified himself as belonging to the force, telling her in an alarmed tone that a close relative of his had been involved in a serious road accident. To avoid serious and immediate legal consequences, according to the self-styled soldier, it was absolutely necessary to urgently hand over a large sum of money. A psychological pressure studied down to the smallest detail: while the woman was held and distracted on the phone by the fake investigator, an accomplice showed up directly at her door. Confused and terrified for the fate of her family member, the elderly woman gave the man all the cash she had at home and several gold jewels, with a total value estimated at around 14,000 euros. However, the investigations launched immediately by the San Calogero Carabinieri made it possible to unravel the thread of the scam. Through targeted investigations, the military managed to identify the two alleged authors of the criminal trip and to collect such solid evidence as to push the Judicial Authority to issue the precautionary measure of the obligation to stay in their municipalities of residence.