An unemployed Italian nurse allegedly disguised himself as his dead mother for years to collect her pension, police said.
The man visited a municipal office in northern Italy two weeks ago to renew his mother’s identity card, according to Italian outlet Corriere della Sera. He wore a 1970s-style blouse, pearl necklace and clip-on earrings. That visit exposed the scheme.
A clerk grew suspicious. The face appeared too young for an 85-year-old woman, and the neck looked masculine beneath the makeup.
Staff alerted the mayor and local police, who launched an investigation. Officers compared the new photo with one from the expired ID card issued a decade earlier. The resemblance existed, but something was wrong.