Mantua: they wanted to defraud a couple with the fake “lawyer/carabiniere” scam, 3 people caught red-handed by the State Police.

The personnel of the Mantua State Police arrested an 18-year-old boy and reported two girls aged 20 and 25, all of Neapolitan origin, at liberty for the crime of attempted aggravated fraud in competition.

The victim, a retired policeman, was contacted on his home landline by a self-styled carabiniere from the Mantua station who told him that his son had caused a serious accident, hitting an 8-year-old girl who was in hospital in desperate conditions. At the same time, a second individual contacted him on his mobile phone, pretending to be a lawyer who reported that he had already contacted the family of the girl who had been hit, agreeing to deliver 4800 euros and gold jewelry.

The former policeman managed to warn his wife, a former Police Headquarters official, who immediately alerted the Operations Room.

The Mobile Squad operators who intervened then reached the place of the alleged meeting, surrounding the area, and here they lay in wait for the arrival of the scammers.

Shortly afterward they saw a boy approaching who, continuing to speak on the phone with the same Campanian accent as the telephone operators, approached the victim and introduced himself as a Carabiniere. At that point the officers stopped the man and immediately began searching for his accomplices.

In a parallel street located in the city center, they intercepted a car parked but ready to go, with two girls on board, also of Campanian origins, who immediately appeared agitated and provided conflicting versions about their presence in the area. Subsequent investigations demonstrated how they were in constant contact with the third individual who had physically shown up to meet the victim.

Once the routine checks were completed, the 18-year-old was arrested while the two girls were reported at liberty.