Italian police announced on October 13 that a senior man in Italy had pretended to be blind for over 50 years to fraudulently obtain more than 1 million euros (1.16 million dollars) in disability benefits. He has been charged with serious fraud.
According to Italian media reports, the financial police in Vicenza uncovered this almost unbelievable scam. A 70-year-old man in the area has been pretending to be completely blind since 1972, illegally obtaining over 1 million euros in disability benefits and related social welfare through this deception.
After initial suspicions were raised about the man, investigators from the financial police launched a comprehensive investigation into him. Over a period of two months, investigators observed and filmed the man’s daily activities.
Footage showed that the man supposedly blind was able to work independently in the garden without outside help, using dangerous tools like hedge trimmers and pruning saws.
They also captured images of the man meticulously selecting fruits and vegetables at the market and paying with cash—a set of activities that would be impossible for someone totally blind to accomplish.
This concrete evidence led authorities to bring serious fraud charges against the man and cease all the social welfare benefits previously provided to him. The auditing court in the Veneto region, to which Vicenza belongs, has also demanded reimbursement for the losses to the state treasury. The more than 200,000 euros (230,000 dollars) in benefits he received over the past five years are considered illegal income and subject to taxation. Authorities have also proposed measures to confiscate his assets.
Similar cases of fraud have occurred in Italy in recent years.
According to a report by Agence France-Presse in 2021, a 40-year-old man in Palermo, Sicily, was accused of pretending to be blind since 2008 and fraudulently obtaining at least 170,000 euros (198,000 dollars) in benefits.
The financial police in the country received reports that despite claiming to be blind, the man renewed his driver’s license in 2018. They then started monitoring him.
During surveillance, police witnessed the man driving while on the phone, walking around crowded malls staring at store windows, and even teaching his daughter how to ride a bike.
Although the man owned an auto repair shop, he still received what is known as “basic income,” government welfare given monthly to the most impoverished citizens.
The man has been arrested on charges of fraud.