Abusive banking institution behind Community: Guardia di Finanza dismantles Ponzi scheme

In the system reconstructed during the investigative activity of the Yellow Flames, the organisation would have operated 'behind the facade of an alleged "community" aimed at the welfare of its affiliates'. "In reality, behind such a structure," the Guardia di Finanza emphasised in a note, "was hidden a fraudulent system that proposed high-yield investments, presented as particularly advantageous and remunerated through 'cashback', in an attempt to evade controls".

20 to 85 years

What made the mechanism work was the relationship of trust established 'by the fake financial promoters with the victims, aged 20 to 95, many of whom would invest personal savings, pensions or, in some cases, money obtained through loans'.

The system was 'self-powered thanks to word of mouth and social networks, turning the investors themselves into promoters, incentivised with fees proportionate to the number of new clients recruited and the sums paid'. Investigations would have revealed 'a widespread Ponzi scheme in several Italian provinces, including Ancona, Rome, Milan, Palermo, Naples, Turin and Bari'.

That is not all. Because to make the operation credible, they would also have contributed 'apparently professional tools, such as a personalised physical debit card and a digital application simulating a home banking service'. However, not everything went smoothly, because the 'mechanism would have stopped when the requests for reimbursement exceeded the new deposits: at that point, the promoters would no longer have returned either interest or capital'.

Operation concluded

At the end of the operation, 'four people were referred to the judicial authorities for the crimes of financial abuse, abusive banking activities, fraud and self-laundering'. The searches, carried out in the Marche, Abruzzo and Lombardy regions, 'led to the application of precautionary measures against two individuals, the seizure of 15 current accounts in Italia and Poland, and the blackout of the online platform'.