Italian man dressed up as his dead mother 'to claim her pension'
56-year-old allegedly spent years pocketing payments but was caught when renewing his mother's ID card
An Italian man is suspected of claiming thousands of euros in pension payments after dressing up as his dead mother to try and get her ID card renewed.
The 56-year-old man from Borgo Virgilio is alleged to have hidden his mother's dead body when she died in 2022 and then continued to cash her pension payments.
He then dressed up as her, including copying her makeup, jewellery and hairdo, to try and renew her ID card when it expired.
Staff grew suspicious and alerted the police, who searched the man’s home and found his mother’s body hidden in a laundry room.
The man is now being investigated for benefit fraud and hiding a body.
Borgo Virgilio mayor Francesco Aporti told Corriere della Sera that the man had walked into the council office dressed as an “old woman” and trying to imitate a female voice.
“But sometimes a few masculine notes slipped out”, he added.
Council staff grew suspicious when they noticed the man’s thickset build and skin complexion.
“The skin on his hands did not seem to be that of an 85-year-old woman,” the mayor said.
According to Italian media, the man is unemployed but had an annual income of €53,000 due to money he received from his mother’s pension and three properties.