A shocking pension fraud scheme unravelled in northern Italy when a man attempted to renew his deceased mother's identity card while dressed in her clothing, leading police to discover her mummified remains hidden in his basement.
The elaborate disguise
The 57-year-old son had been collecting his mother's pension payments for three years following her death in 2022, according to reports from Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. He had kept her body in the cellar of their home in Borgo Virgilio, Lombardy, without ever reporting her passing to authorities.
The elaborate charade came crashing down when the man was forced to visit the local registry office to renew his mother's expired identity card. In a desperate attempt to maintain the fraud, he arrived wearing a woman's dress, wig, lipstick, jewellery and nail polish, hoping to fool civil servants into believing he was his 85-year-old mother.
Suspicions arise and investigation begins
Officials immediately grew suspicious of the unusual visitor. The village's mayor, Francesco Aporti, told Corriere della Sera: "The employee shared her doubts with us, and the local police, who were conducting their own investigation, got to work."
Investigators examined surveillance footage and noticed the "woman" had arrived by car, despite the fact the elderly mother didn't possess a driver's licence. This discovery prompted further investigations that gradually revealed the disturbing truth.
Authorities asked the "mother" to return to the office, where police officers and Mayor Aporti were waiting. The mayor described the scene: "He entered the municipal offices at a slow pace, he was wearing a suit with a long skirt, he had lipstick on his lips, nail polish on his hands, jewellery on his neck and hands, old style earrings, dark brown hair."
The discovery and confession
Upon closer inspection, several details gave away the disguise. Mayor Aporti noted: "That neck, on closer inspection, was a little too big, and the wrinkles were also strange, the skin of the hands did not look like the one of the 85-year-old he said he was. And the voice, feminine yes but every now and then he missed some male notes."
The son eventually confessed to his true identity and permitted officers to search his mother's home, where they made the grim discovery of a mummified body in one room. Initial investigations suggest the woman died from natural causes in 2022.
The body was transferred to a mortuary for further examination, while the son now faces potential charges including concealment of a corpse and fraud. The case continues to undergo further investigation by Italian authorities.
