The military personnel of the provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza of Padua have concluded investigations against the members of a criminal association rooted in the Padua area, but active in numerous locations across the national territory, aimed at committing an indefinite series of extortions and frauds against elderly women, in the “door-to-door” sales sector, allowing the local Public Prosecutor’s Office to request the trial of the six individuals considered responsible for defrauding 1,200 elderly women.
The measure follows the precautionary measures ordered by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of Padua who had ordered, against the leaders and promoters of the organization, five precautionary measures, including one in prison and two house arrests, and the preventive seizure of 2.5 million euros considered proceeds of crime. Luxury goods were seized such as watches, jewelry, clothing and accessories, as well as financial assets and other movable and immovable property.
The investigations
The investigations originated from the ordinary economic control of the territory, during which it was observed, for several months, how some Padua subjects regularly frequented exclusive nightlife venues in Padua driving luxury cars. The testimonies collected from some of them, also resulting in complaints, outlined the modus operandi of the suspects who, using a network of sales agents, went door-to-door already aware of finding elderly people, housewives, pensioners, and “alone” individuals in some homes.
With great persuasive skill, they managed to access private homes and, there, explained to the victims that, by virtue of a purchase contract signed years before also with other door-to-door sales companies, they were obliged to purchase household items, such as irons, cookware sets, mattresses, toppers, pillows, recliner chairs, electromedical magnetotherapy devices, all products presented as high quality, but actually of little value.
The purchase of household items, at a price ranging between 5,000 and 7,000 euros, considering that many elderly women lived in difficult economic conditions and, in many cases, only with the minimum pension, had to mainly take place through the activation of financing with leading consumer credit companies. In some cases, the door-to-door sellers, several of whom already burdened with previous convictions, returned after a few months to the homes of the most vulnerable and easiest to convince victims, forcing them to order additional household items and to reschedule the financing already activated previously, thus increasing the amount of the installments and the duration.
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In case of refusal or resistance by the elderly, the suspects threatened legal action, claiming that the purchase contract signed in previous years still entailed, in their opinion, the obligation of further purchases: hence the contested conduct of extortion.
Numbers and areas
More than 1200 victims were found, residing not only in Padua, but also in other provinces, including mainly Alessandria, Ancona, Arezzo, Asti, Belluno, Bergamo, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Cuneo, Ferrara, Florence, Forlì Cesena, Genoa, Gorizia, Grosseto, Lecco, Lodi, Lucca, Macerata, Mantua, Milan, Modena, Monza-Brianza, Novara, Parma, Pavia, Perugia, Pesaro-Urbino, Piacenza, Pordenone, Prato, Ravenna, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Rovigo, Savona, Siena, Sondrio, Turin, Trento, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Varese, Venice, Vercelli, Verona, Vicenza.
The profits from the criminal conduct, deriving from markups up to 800% on the products sold and from commissions recognized by financing companies for each individual consumer credit grant, had allowed the main suspects of the group to lead a lavish lifestyle with dream vacations, frequenting refined restaurants, purchasing clothing and accessories from the most famous haute couture houses, renting luxury cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Porsche.
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