A group of scammers created non-existent hotels on the web, encouraging unsuspecting tourists to book bogus stays and swindling them out of thousands by asking for their credit card details. However the cons were soon discovered by the State Police.
Two people were arrested and 19 were taken into custody in an operation conducted in collaboration with American counterparts from the US Department of Homeland Security, as most of the people scammed ― about 200 between 2021 and 2022 ― were American.
A turnover of over 600,000 euro was discovered by police of the Trevi Campo Marzio district at the end of a complex investigation coordinated by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office.
The subjects of the investigation were all residents of the Rome province; their alleged offences being criminal conspiracy aimed at committing computer-telematics fraud and money laundering.
The fraud operated as follows: customers booked a stay in a non-existent hotel in the centre of Rome online, and were then contacted by the suspects on the phone, who asked them for their credit card details under the pretext of paying a deposit.
