Italian man accused of dressing up as his dead mom to claim her pension

Graziella Dall'Oglio (left) and her son (right), who has not been named. (Credit: Mantova Questura via CNN Newsource)

It was the dark hair on the back of the neck, hands and chin of the elderly woman renewing her identity card that first tipped off authorities to an alleged crime and led to the arrest of a 57-year-old man in northern Italy.

The man, whose name has not been released by authorities, is the son of Graziella Dall’Oglio, who died in 2022 at age 82 in the town of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua, a spokesperson at the Mantua police precinct told CNN on Tuesday.

Police say the man, a former nurse who is currently unemployed, did not report her death to authorities.

When the elderly woman’s identity card expired, the son put on makeup, a wig and her clothes in order to pose as his mother and renew her card – something that must be done in person in Italy, the spokesperson said.

However, the agent who processed the application suspected foul play and notified authorities, who called the alleged Mrs. Dall’Oglio back to the municipal office.

Surveillance footage of the parking lot shows that the man drove to the office dressed as his mother, despite the fact that she didn’t hold a driver’s license. Police met him there, the spokesperson said.

Officers then went to the elderly woman’s home address and found her mummified body in the laundry room closet, wrapped in sleeping bags, they added.

The man is accused of concealing a corpse, fraud against the state, impersonation, and forgery of a public document, the spokesperson said.

He is accused of removing fluids from his mother’s body with a syringe to prevent decomposition, and an autopsy has been ordered to determine how she died.

He remains in a local jail as prosecutors await the results of the autopsy, the police spokesperson told CNN.

State pension fraud is common in Italy, with dozens of people arrested every year for impersonating someone who has died to collect their pension, according to statistics from the Italian financial crime police, known as the Guardia di Finanza.

As the country’s death registries and public services are not always in sync it can take years to report deaths, which means that pension checks continue to be sent out until someone notifies the local pension office from which they are dispatched.