Fabriano: the author of an attempted scam against two elderly spouses using the fake marshal technique discovered

Upon delivery of the requested jewels, the 90-year-old victim put into practice the advice received during the mass from the real Marshal of the Arma di Fabriano and also implemented an ingenious stratagem, bringing with him an empty bag and immediately contacting 112. The Carabinieri of Fabriano have reported a 20-year-old with multiple criminal convictions of Neapolitan origins for attempted aggravated fraud.

The investigation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Ancona, originated from the complaint filed by two Fabrianesi spouses, he 90 and she 87, against unknown persons, as in September 2024 they had been victims of an attempted scam after receiving a phone call on their home landlineThe woman who had spoken to a man had answered the phone call such Carabinieri Marshal Primo Costanzo, who informed him that his son Roberto had been involved in a collision with three cars and that there was a problem with the insurance for which the son was under arrest. To resolve the problem it was therefore necessary to pay the sum of €8.900 in cash or in jewelry of equal value.

During the phone call, the victim, as requested, also provided her husband's cell phone number, and a few minutes later he received a phone call from - this time - a self-styled lawyer from Ancona who reassured the elderly man, saying that he knew his son well and that he would resolve the problem in exchange for the payment of the aforementioned sum.

The unusual request put the couple on guard, mindful of the teachings they received at the end of Sunday mass from the Commander of the Fabriano Station, Lieutenant Giuseppe Alesci, during the periodic meetings held with the faithful to talk about scams. In fact, the real Lieutenant Alesci had actually described the same “script” as a typical ploy used by scammers to defraud elderly people.

The ninety-year-old then agreed to meet the mysterious Lawyer Luca outside his house to deliver the jewels to him, but he came up with an ingenious ruse: holding an empty bag in his hand, he asked the tax collector who showed up at his house to provide him with an identification document to verify his identity, but the latter, following the request, saw that he had been discovered and ran away in a car parked about 50/60 meters from the house.

While his 87-year-old wife continued to be busy on the phone with the self-styled Marshal of the Carabinieri, the ninety-year-old, to confirm the situation, he then immediately called the emergency number 112, thus having proof from the operator of the Fabriano Carabinieri operations centre that he and his wife had been the victims of an attempted scam.

When the complaint was filed, the 90-year-old was shown a photographic file containing 9 photographs of suspects, among whom the complainant recognized - without any hesitation - one of the subjects depicted as the one who had passed himself off as the Lawyer Luca, although in reality he was a twenty-year-old repeat offender of Neapolitan origin. Subsequent investigations by the Fabriano police force then definitively confirmed the recognition, thus leading to the 20-year-old being reported.