Online scams are increasingly being talked about, especially to warn those with less digital literacy. Nevertheless, the number of scammed victims remains high. As expected, they are older people , often retired professionals with large assets to invest . This, at least, is what they are being offered: “Safe investments, quick profits . “
THE WRITER
In an article last Sunday, the Corriere della Sera recounted the stories of three elderly victims , wealthy but “alone,” meaning defenseless against the dangers of the internet. “He called me every day. I didn’t feel alone ,” declared an (anonymous) woman from Milan, a lifelong writer. The statement was recorded after the elderly woman filed a complaint.
The first contact was made by phone, one afternoon in November: “I’m Luisa, I work with a consultant in London. I’ll send you a link: so you can see the results .” The first deposit was 140 euros, to test things out and ” out of curiosity . ” A week later, she received the same amount, more than tripled, to 507 euros, and so the scammers gained her trust. From “Luisa,” she moved on to “Paolo,” who convinced her to install remote assistance software, AnyDesk , “so he can help you remotely .” The transactions on her account became more frequent, though always with “correct” amounts, so as not to alert the bank and the anti-fraud systems. The phone calls, then, kept her company, and the tone was always kind, never intrusive: “Have you eaten? Are you reading something good? “
Meanwhile, using remote controls , the scammers managed to steal almost a million from her. At a certain point, the calls stopped coming in, and when she tried to contact “Paolo,” no one answered. She only discovered the scam thanks to a friend who had invited her home to check on her PC.
THE FORMER OFFICER
The second victim is a 75-year-old former law enforcement officer, also from Milan. He has a passion for classic cars , and one day he is contacted on Facebook by a seemingly unsuspecting woman. She claims to belong to a collectors’ group and sends pictures of a Lamborghini in need of restoration. She generally talks about auctions and opportunities they could take advantage of together. “Let’s invest together; we only need a temporary share. We’ll get back the money right away .” He obviously believes her, and more than once carries out the requested transactions (to various European IBANs). The promise is always to “refund everything” shortly, plus the profit. It will later be discovered that the woman’s account was a fake one, run by an Eastern European scammer.
THE ACCOUNTANT
Finally, there’s the story of a former accountant “well-known in Milan” who one day received a message with an investment proposal . As always, the initial amount was a few hundred euros, and an initial “symbolic” transfer was returned. From there, the spiral escalated, an addiction like gambling. The scammers pressed him with requests like: “A commission is needed , ” “A tax is missing , ” “There’s a problem with the unlocking, should I supplement ?” The elderly man ordered a series of transfers to foreign accounts (Switzerland, Germany, Austria) and in nine months swept away almost half a million. When the money ran out, he began selling off his properties , including his office and the family home. Last January, he filed a complaint and promised (to himself) to recoup the money. But no one but him knew: the last time he was seen, at home, he was holding his phone upside down, as if trying to hide something. Only after his death, a few months ago, was the discovery of the bank transfers.
“What hurts ,” his son-in-law Lorenzo Ceccarelli says today, ” is that he held on alone until the end. Shame pushes you into a corner. And from there, you no longer ask for help. But we all have the right to trust others. Is that called naivety? “