Fake Carabinieri Scam Foiled in Poppi, Two Arrested

A Carabinieri officer assists an elderly woman as she holds his hand for support

POPPI - A phone call, a false judicial emergency and the usual scam scheme targeting the elderly: once again the so-called “fake Carabinieri” attempted to strike by exploiting fear and urgency. This time, however, the fraud was foiled thanks to the intuition of a neighbour and the swift intervention of the real officers of the Carabinieri. A story that ends with two arrests, the recovery of the stolen goods and new details about a criminal mechanism that is unfortunately increasingly widespread.

Two arrests for the “fake Carabinieri” scam

Two arrests for the “fake Carabinieri” scam. The technique is always the same: the fake Carabiniere who telephones elderly people and presents himself as the solver of a fictitious legal problem, in exchange for gold, valuables and cash. This time the two “fake Carabinieri”, originally from the province of Bari, called a 68-year-old woman, resident in Poppi, an Italian municipality in the province of Arezzo, informing her that the licence plate of her partner’s car had been fitted to a vehicle used to commit a robbery in Arezzo.

The phone call to the 68-year-old woman and the false legal problem

The fake Carabiniere was to arrive shortly afterwards to collect the valuables that would serve to avoid more serious legal consequences for the woman’s partner, who, in the meantime, would have had to travel by car to Arezzo and present himself to the Carabinieri at the provincial headquarters. Fortunately, the woman’s account raised suspicion in a neighbour, who decided to express her doubts to the Carabinieri, calling the operations centre of the Bibbiena company, whose staff immediately sent the real Carabinieri officers to the scene.

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The Carabinieri from the Poppi station, upon entering the woman’s home, were able to confirm the presence of a 22-year-old man, already known to law enforcement, who had been handed 80 euros and gold jewellery weighing a total of around 200 grams (current value approximately 25,000 euros). The young man, caught by the Carabinieri, had arrived at the location accompanied by a 24-year-old accomplice, who was waiting near the woman’s home in a car.

Seizure of the stolen goods and arrests

The “real” Carabinieri seized the stolen goods, returning them to the victim, and arrested the two men for aggravated fraud in conjunction, taking them to the security rooms of the Bibbiena Carabinieri company, at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the provincial capital of Arezzo, which is conducting further investigations to ascertain whether they have committed other crimes in the province of Arezzo. The above communication is made in respect of the rights of the persons under investigation, who are to be considered presumed innocent in view of the current stage of the proceedings – preliminary investigations – until a final determination of guilt by an irrevocable judgment, and for the purpose of ensuring the constitutionally guaranteed right to report news.

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