Redazione RHC : 18 November 2025 07:16
The room is the same: dim lights, chairs in a circle, thermoses of herbal teas now cold from all the talking and venting. We are Shakerati Anonimi , a group of people who never imagined we’d end up here, united by one thing: having been shaken, tricked, robbed by those who, behind the keyboard, have nothing to lose.
After Pasquale, Simone, and Gianni, a woman takes a breath, adjusts her scarf, and stands up.
It’s his turn.
“Hi everyone, my name is Nicoletta,” she says with a tight half-smile. “I’m 42 years old, I work as an administrative clerk in a notary’s office… and yes, I was scammed.”
The circle nods, someone whispers, “Hi Nicoletta.” She takes a deep breath, as if she were about to dive into freezing water.
It was supposed to be an ordinary day. I hadn’t slept well in a few days, and my head wasn’t exactly at its best. Around 11 a.m., I got a call from my bank. The display said so, too.
He makes a gesture with his hand, as if to chase away an unpleasant thought.
“They told me my new Evolution card, the replacement, had finally been processed and I needed to complete the activation. I’d been waiting a long time for that card because mine was about to expire. Everything seemed normal. No strange requests. No codes to enter. They just told me to confirm some notifications on the app… Confirm, you understand?”
A heavy silence falls over the group. Nicoletta continues:
“I didn’t even have the new card in hand, I didn’t even know the number! And that got me! Because when you see that they know everything, you think everything is in order. So I do what they ask.”
Look down.
“Two minutes later… I realize the account had been emptied. Not lightened. Empty . Zero.”
“I stormed off to the Carabinieri. They explained to me that I could report the incident and hope for reimbursement, or try to launch a more thorough investigation… but that ‘it’s unlikely we’ll catch them anyway.'”
He pronounces the quotation marks with bitterness.
«Then at the bank I discovered a detail that shocked me: my card wasn’t “out for delivery”.
It was missing . Lost during delivery. My new card had ended up in someone’s hands before it even reached my mailbox.”
Someone in the circle murmurs in disbelief.
“And here comes the part that keeps me up at night. They told me the scammer withdrew cash from an ATM, and that an accomplice activated the card from the website. As if they had everything planned: the stolen card, my information already prepared, the synchronized phone call.”
Nicoletta sits down. Her voice trembles for a moment.
«The next day, I don’t know why but I decided to check the delivery app.
And I found something.”
The group sits up straight in their chairs.
“My card was listed as delivered two days before the call. But I hadn’t received anything. No notice, no postman. Nothing.”
A couple of people jump.
“I asked the bank to see the photo of the delivery. You know the one they take now to prove delivery?”
He nods slowly.
I was expecting a fake signature. A photo of the front door. A hole. And instead… there was a hand in the photo.
A hand that was telling me something. Not mine. But…” she sighs, almost incredulously , “…but I had already seen that hand.”
The group holds its breath.
“It was the hand of the postman who’s been serving my building for years. My postman. He delivered the paper… to someone other than me.”
The room erupts in a disbelieving buzz.
“I realized it wasn’t just any scam. It was something quietly engineered, with someone who knew my habits, knew I was waiting for the card, knew when it would arrive… and acted.”
Nicoletta tightens her scarf.
“I may never know if the postman was complicit or if he was tricked. But now at least I know one thing: it wasn’t a random robbery. It was a tailor-made hit.”
From this story we learned three fundamental lessons:
When you encounter a scam, the first thing to do is immediately report it to the relevant authorities: the Postal Police or Carabinieri. This step is crucial for two reasons: it allows law enforcement to initiate the necessary investigations and, at the same time, allows the victim to initiate official procedures for a possible refund or recovery of funds. Acting promptly increases the chances of the scam being traced, documented, and, where possible, stopped before it can affect others.
Nicoletta’s fraud started physically , with the theft of the card before delivery.
This shows that criminals don’t just operate digitally: they often combine the real and digital worlds to make the attack more credible.
The scammer didn’t ask for any unusual codes, and didn’t speak in a suspicious manner.
It simply prompted Nicoletta to confirm notifications on the app. And this is exactly what many victims don’t expect: a scam that doesn’t ask for sensitive information, but exploits what they already have.
The article was inspired by a real scam shared by a user on Reddit.
Our deepest consolation goes to this person: her courage in sharing her experiences allows others to recognize the signs, protect themselves, and learn from her experiences.
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