LUCCA. The prices were enticing. The deliveries nonexistent. It went down in history as the “Black Friday Scam” that saw people signing bank transfers for thousands of euros with the reasonable certainty of buying MacBooks and Apple iPhones, only to later discover that the money would never be exchanged for the product offered online at advantageous prices. They were advantageous, but only for those who had collected the money after hooking customers with the offers advertised on the website www.andreacarcassi.it.
There is also a 48-year-old entrepreneur from Lucca (he lost 3,365 for a PC and phone, ed.) among the more than 330 injured parties in the criminal proceedings arising from the wave of complaints filed for the undelivered PCs and cell phones in November 2021.
The victims live all over Italy. In Tuscany, they reside among Vecchiano, Pontedera, Florence, Capraia e Limite, Vicchio, Barberino del Mugello, Marradi, Castagneto Carducci, Rufina, Sesto Fiorentino, Follonica, Pietrasanta, San Vincenzo, Monte Argentario, Montale, Grosseto, Campiglia Marittima, Porto Azzurro, and Rosignano Marittimo.
As often happens with such online traps, the web community had moved in time by warning future buyers and reporting the non-delivery of hi-tech products. At the same time, Federconsumatori of Parma had also tackled what appeared to be yet another scam by filing the first complaints.
After the investigation by the Guardia di Finanza, the Rome Prosecutor’s Office requested the trial of ten people. Four are charged with aggravated fraud in conspiracy, while the rest of the defendants face various episodes of money laundering. The amount of the scam is estimated, according to the records, at around 450,000 euros.
The names
The person who was the owner of the site, but who according to the prosecution had a frontman role, is named Andrea Carcassi, 41 years old, from Cagliari. He allegedly provided his identity to open bank accounts, VAT number, and the trade name of the online storefront.
Luca Farci, 37 years old, from Cagliari, and his partner Valentina Perez, 35 years old, also from Cagliari, are accused of managing the commercial part of the business by purchasing goods that in the first months were sent, thus gaining customers’ trust and positive reviews on the Trust Pilot review site; Ignazio Cao, 37 years old, from Cagliari, is said to have been Carcassi’s recruiter. The four must answer for aggravated fraud in conspiracy, and Carcassi, Perez, and Farci also for self-money laundering.
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Money laundering charges for Santino Manoni, 77 years old, from Rome; Caterina Florio, 66 years old, from Anagni; Monica Domenicantonio, 54 years old, from Frosinone; Fabio Vellucci, 58 years old, from Rome; Gabriele Chen, 29 years old, from Rome; Edoardo Chen, 33 years old, from Rome.
Essentially, the six allegedly received the money that the Prosecutor’s Office considers the proceeds of the scam and then transferred it to foreign accounts of Bulgarian and Chinese companies. Amounts of which, according to the prosecution, they knew the illegal origin and wanted to obscure the flow to hinder traceability.
The system
For several months, orders were fulfilled. This generated customer loyalty and the creation of credibility through positive reviews on Trust Pilot – many genuine but some judged false – and from the punctual and apparently correct behavior of the seller who managed to offer newly released products at discounted prices. At the 2021 Black Friday, the bitter turning point for customers. The payment requested by bank transfer was not followed by the shipment of the phone or PC. On Monday, December 20, 2021, Carcassi, after obtaining a backup of his website, took it offline. The phones had been deactivated.
In reconstructing the supply chain of a story that extended throughout the peninsula, Federconsumatori of Parma discovered that the company’s headquarters was in an abandoned building and the logistics part at the same address as a high school in Rome. Now the trial requests with the statute of limitations timing marking the probable scam for those who lost money.
