A bizarre fraud case out of northern Italy left locals stunned after police accused a man of disguising himself as his dead mother for years in order to keep cashing her pension.

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Authorities in Borgo Virgilio, near the city of Mantua, are investigating a 57-year-old former nurse after allegedly uncovering a scheme that involved wigs, makeup, jewellery — and the hidden body of his mother.

According to investigators, the man is accused of concealing the death of his mother, Graziella Dall’Oglio, who died in 2022 at the age of 82, while continuing to collect thousands of euros in pension payments in her name, The Guardian reports.

What makes the case even more extraordinary is how it allegedly unravelled.

Police say the man’s deception only began to fall apart earlier this month when he attempted to renew his mother’s expired identity card — something that legally has to be done in person in Italy.

That’s when he allegedly turned up at the local council offices dressed as her.

And, according to officials, the disguise was detailed.

Francesco Aporti, the mayor of Borgo Virgilio, described the scene to Corriere della Sera, saying the man had shuffled into the office dressed as “an old woman”.

“He wore lipstick, nail polish, jewellery and old-fashioned earrings, and had a dark brown bob of hair,” Aporti said, via CNN.

But something wasn’t right.

The mayor said the man attempted to alter his voice too.

“He tried to imitate a female voice, but occasionally a few masculine notes slipped out,” Aporti added.

However, that was only the beginning.

A council staff member reportedly became suspicious after noticing several physical details didn’t quite match the woman on record.

“His neck was a bit too thick and even the wrinkles were strange,” Aporti explained. “The skin on his hands did not seem to be that of an 85-year-old woman.”

Those suspicions triggered a police investigation.

Authorities compared official photographs of Graziella Dall’Oglio with the individual who had attended the office and quickly identified major inconsistencies.

Surveillance footage from the municipal car park added another red flag.

Police say it showed the man arriving at the office dressed as his mother — despite the fact she never held a driving licence.

Officers later searched the family home in Borgo Virgilio and made a grim discovery.

Inside the laundry room closet, they found the mummified body of Dall’Oglio, reportedly wrapped in sleeping bags.

Investigators now believe the body had been hidden there since her death in 2022.

The accusations don’t stop there.

Police allege the man had used a syringe to remove fluids from his mother’s body in an attempt to slow decomposition, although an autopsy has now been ordered to determine the exact circumstances of her death.

At this stage, there has been no suggestion from authorities that her death itself was suspicious, but the autopsy will be key in establishing a timeline.

The man is now facing a string of charges, including fraud against the state, impersonation, forgery of a public document, and concealing a corpse.

He remains in custody in a local jail while prosecutors await further forensic results.

Reports in Italy suggest the man had been financially dependent on his mother’s pension.

According to Corriere della Sera, he was unemployed but had access to an annual income of around €53,000 (£46,500) through her pension and ownership of three properties.

The case has also reignited wider discussion around pension fraud in Italy, where authorities say similar scams happen regularly.

Italy’s pension system has long faced issues due to delays between death registrations and updates to public records, often allowing payments to continue until someone formally reports the death.

And this isn’t the first case to shock the country.

In 2023, authorities in Verona discovered a man had kept his mother’s body inside his home for five years while continuing to claim her pension.

That same year, another case in Puglia saw a son conceal his father’s body for an astonishing 10 years for the same reason.

But even in a country where pension fraud is far from unheard of, the image of a man allegedly dressing as his dead mother — complete with lipstick, a wig and earrings — has made this one stand apart.

Featured image credit: Facebook