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Topics: News, World News, Crime
Kit Roberts
It seems a man from Italy went to extreme lengths to collect pension payments which should have gone to his late mother.
The 57-year-old from the town of Borgo Virgilio, in northern Italy, allegedly continued to collect the pension payments after his mom died, despite having zero claim to them.
In a grisly twist, the man, who has not been named publicly, allegedly hid his mother's corpse in the basement of his house and did not inform the authorities that she had passed away.
He would then collect the pension payments in her name using her ID card, according to a report in Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. However, the alleged fraud came to an end when his mom's ID expired, meaning he could no longer use it to impersonate her and collect the money.
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At this point, most people would probably admit that the jig was up, but not this man.
Rather than quitting while he was ahead, the man allegedly tried to recreate his dead mother's ID card to continue his fraud, which has since been dubbed the 'Mrs Doubtfire' scandal.
Mrs Doubtfire is a 1993 comedy starring the late Robin Williams, who disguises himself as an elderly female housekeeper in order to see his children in the midst of a split from his wife.
The Italian man donned a wig and make-up to try and disguise himself as his mother in an attempt to get a new picture for the card.
But staff at the office realised that he wasn't who he was claiming to be, and told him to come back dressed in his usual clothes.
When he returned the next day, the police were waiting for him.
In an alarming development, police then reportedly found his mom's body, which he had used his skills as a nurse to preserve.
Francesco Aportil, the mayor of Borgo Virgilio, revealed that an investigation has since been launched.
He said: “The employee shared her doubts with us, and the local police, who were conducting their own investigation, got to work."
Explaining how they had clocked that the man wasn't who he claimed to be, Aporti explained that he had arrived by car, despite his mom not having a driver's licence.
“He entered the municipal offices at a slow pace," Aporti explained.
"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."
He added: “But 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."
Police are investigating the alleged offences, and an autopsy is now being carried out to determine the mother's cause of death.
The man has been accused of concealing a corpse, forgery, impersonation, and fraud against the National Institute of Social Security (INPS).