Some 77 people have been placed
under investigation on suspicion of scamming religious
institutes across Italy, police said Thursday.
They said the well-organised gang based in Siracusa and with
branches around Italy carried out 148 scams on as many
institutes between September 2014 and February 2019.
Police served stay-at-home orders on seven people, four in the
Siracusa area and three near Turin.
They have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud against
religious institutes and care homes.
The fraudsters allegedly posed as regional, provincial and
municipal officials, bank and post office clerks and managers,
and said the institutes had been given mistakenly large
donations and would have to pay back the excess amounts,
generally between 1,000 and 3,000 euros, police said.
The victims promptly paid out via postal cheques or Posta Pay
accounts.
The alleged gang also collected personal information that
enabled them to better con their victims, police said.
Some 21 bank accounts belonging to some of the gang have been
frozen.
A number of credit and debit cards have been seized as well.
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