Italian Man Allegedly Posed as Deceased Mother for Years to Claim Pension
rome, Italy – An unemployed man in Italy is facing examination after allegedly impersonating his deceased mother for over two years to continue receiving her pension payments. Staff at a post office in the town of Corato, in the Puglia region, became suspicious when collecting the pension in person, noticing inconsistencies wiht the elderly woman’s appearance.
A staff member noted that the man’s neck “was a bit too thick and even the wrinkles were strange”, he added. “The skin on his hands did not seem to be that of an 85-year-old woman.” The deception reportedly continued until the 85-year-old woman, who had been officially declared dead in 2012, was discovered to be alive and well – having been kept hidden by her son.
The case highlights a disturbing, though not isolated, trend in Italy of individuals concealing the deaths of relatives to fraudulently claim social security benefits. Corriere reported the man, a nurse by training, had an annual income of €53,000 (£46,500) through his mother’s pension and income from three properties.
This is not the first instance of such fraud in recent years. In 2023,a man in Verona was found to have kept his mother’s body at home for five years while continuing to collect her pension. A similar case was uncovered the same year in Puglia, where a son allegedly concealed his father’s death for a decade. Italian authorities are continuing to investigate the Corato case and the extent of the fraudulent activity.
