Vercelli, gang dedicated to scamming elderly people defeated: 14 people arrested

The State Police of Vercelli dismantled a criminal organization aimed at committing fraud against elderly people.

The policemen of the Flying Squad of Vercelli supported by the Mobile Squads of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta and coordinated by the Central Operations Service, they carried out 14 precautionary measures in prison ordered by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

the operation, called “Charon”, directed by the Deputy Prosecutor Dr. Rosamaria Iera, made it possible to shed light on 27 incidents of fraud committed by the association in Provinces of Vercelli, Novara, Biella, Lodi, Alessandria, Pavia, Varese, Como, Milano and Monza.

The criminals who ended up in the detectives' net, the majority some of whom are nomads of Polish nationality linked to each other by kinship ties, will now have to answer for criminal conspiracy aimed at committing fraud on the elderly, impersonation and receiving stolen goods.

In the dozens of confirmed cases, the victims reported having received a phone call from a member of the police force, by a lawyer or even a family member, who reported a road accident, never actually happened, in which a relative of the victim was involved; for avoid unfortunate, judicial or health consequences, for the relative involved the self-styled professional he asserted that it was necessary to urgently deliver a large sum of money to them e, where the victim is unable to reach the requested sum, i scammers convinced her to hand over all the family jewels and gold in her possession.

The investigation began in April last year ascertained, Furthermore, that the overall damage to the removed goods amounts to approximately 400 thousand euros between cash and valuables stolen from the victims of the scams.

From the investigative activity the absolute versatility and interchangeability of the associates emerged, which they could act as telephone operators called to deceive the elderly victims as well as self-styled people in charge of collecting precious items, sometimes qualifying themselves as belonging to the Carabinieri, as Hospital workers, employees of a law firm or even as a close relative of the victim.

Furthermore, the affiliation to the association of some Italian subjects dedicated to receiving stolen goods allowed the group to quickly make the jewels disappear taken from the victims, as well as some of the members of the criminal association they were registered as owners of over 150 vehicles, used from time to time by the group to strike in various provinces of Northern Italy without leaving traces of their passage.

About 80 men were employed in today's operation of the Police Headquarters of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta and of the Crime Prevention Department of Turin.