"Your son is in prison": Olbia, woman hands over 50 thousand euros to scammers. And the cases multiply
Hundreds of cases investigated by the Police. The victims are in Sardinia, but the "bases" are in Campania
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The biggest heist was probably carried out in Olbia a few months ago: a pensioner (scared and threatened) allegedly handed over around 50 thousand euros of jewelry to two people who had told her the story of a son in prison and in need of help.
A scam scheme that is claiming victims all over the island. Last July, the staff of the Olbia Police Station arrested the young man from Campania Daniele Pelluso, who, according to the prosecutor, after having attempted to rob a pensioner from Cagliari, was trying to board a ferry.
The Carabinieri (Mogoro Company and Olbia Territorial Department), also in the port of Isola Bianca, last Friday arrested Marco Sasso and Claudio Clemente, both from Maddaloni, accused of having defrauded a 90-year-old pensioner in Mogoro with the “carabinieri” scam. The victim was told that if she did not immediately find some cash, her nephew would be ruined. Sasso and Clemente, according to the Oristano Prosecutor's Office, were the fake carabinieri who took 2,500 euros from the pensioner.
There are hundreds of similar episodes. This is what the investigations underway in Sardinia say, which are intertwined with those opened in Campania and Lazio by investigators from the Rome and Naples Squad.
In the Caserta area and in Naples, the "central offices" of an organisation that has collected data and information on hundreds of elderly people are said to be active.
The victims would have been interviewed by the gang's "telephone operators" with fake commercial surveys (electricity and mobile phone users), for the collection of data (especially on the composition of the family units). After the information gathering phase, the pensioners are contacted and scared: "Your son is in prison, we need money to help him".
According to ongoing investigations in Campania, telephone operators would even have a manual to learn how to communicate with the elderly. Once convinced, the victim opens the door to hand over money or jewelry to the gang members who operate in Sardinia, charged with finalizing the scam. These are people who would have a minimal percentage of the stolen goods and who are subjected to strict control, even with threats and aggression.
