Verona, discovery of the “Venetian cell” that was selling fake green passes
The “factory” of the false green passes was in an apartment in a white building in the hinterland of Verona. According to the Milan finance police, this is where the “Venetian cell” operated, promising to supply counterfeit certificates the no vaxes willing to pay to get a pass for what for months, gyms and everything that has been off limits for months to anyone who insists on refusing vaccines, molecular swabs and rapid tests.The operation was carried out as part of an investigation by the Fraud, Consumer Protection and Cybercrime Department of the Milan prosecutor’s office, coordinated by the deputy prosecutor Eugenio Fusco and directed by the substitutes Bianca Maria Baj Macario and Maura Ripamonti.
Network monitoring
The scam emerged from a monitoring of the Net, which brought in the crosshairs of financiers four people who managed various Telegram channels through which they promised hundreds of “customers” the possibility of obtaining authentic green passes, equipped with QR codes that can pass the checks. The mother and son of Cogoleto, in the province of Genoa, and the two residents ended up in the sights in the white building at the gates of the Scaligero capital. The alleged “Venetian cell” was made up of the two Veronese brothers: Riccardo, 34 years old who is the animator of events; and Tommaso, 31, entrepreneur in the real estate sector. They were them to use the Telegram account “Greenpassinfo”, registered in the name of an elusive “Francesco Benaglio” and user for the management of the channel “Greenpass Fake Italia”, within which it was proposed, in fact, the purchase and sale of green certificates and false negativity tests of the USL Scaligera.
The searches
On 10 August, on the orders of the Milan prosecutor’s office, the search was launched of the apartment during which the financiers seized two invalid green passes in the name of the brothers, another that reported the data of a thirty-year-old from Verona, and a fourth with the name of the mother of the two boys, as well as a series of photographs of identity documents and health cards of various subjects. Some counterfeit reports were also discovered “certifying the negativity of nasopharyngeal swabs, from the USL 9 company”. But above all it was possible to return to the contents of the comparase conversations on their Whatsapp and Telegram profiles. Phrases that, according to the investigators, would prove the successful sale of the certificates. In one of these, fished out of the 31-year-old’s cell phone, a customer thanks him «for what you are doing! As you can imagine, I am a very well-aligned no vax, today I had the flight to go to Malaga to visit my son. At the entrance I presented what I took from you … Guess where I am now? Embraced with him in Spain ». Another, on July 21, confirms that “yesterday I received the green pass”. A buyer on July 26, thanks “Francesco Benaglio” for the service: “All arrived”. And he (the chat would have been found on Riccardo’s devices) reassures him of the effectiveness also because «the exhibitors, after having been closed for a year and a half, will only have to be able to work in peace. And, as they are not responsible for letting someone in who bought a green pass, don’t even think about having to check … ».
Cryptocurrencies
The financiers are convinced that the suspects were getting paid in cryptocurrencies. Questioned on August 16, after discovering that he was in trouble with his mother, the Genoese has it all: “I offered green passes both in digital format, at the price of 100 euros, and in paper format for 120 euros (…) I asked for payment mainly via bitcoin (…) I don’t remember the exact number of transactions, but I believe I have received 10 to 14 payments (…).For now, no relationship has emerged between the two Ligurians and the Veronese brothers. August 24in front of the investigators, Tommaso and Riccardo have instead chosen to make a silent scene. Their defender, the lawyer Giovanni Chincarini, is sure he can dispose that they have never carried out any scam.
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November 28, 2021 (change November 28, 2021 | 08:35)
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