Over 1,000 Refugees in Italy Fall Victim of Residence Permit Scam Scheme

The Italian police in Tuscany have revealed that over 1,000 refugees have been deceived by five people who have offered documents that supposedly would help the refugees obtain residence permits.

This group of five people, three of whom were Italian nationals and the other two had a residence permit in the country, charged refugees between €150 and €750 to obtain these documents, Schengen.News reports. 

Their usual target was someone that was seeking international protection in Italy and had very little income, and often did not know the official administrative procedures in the country. 

Refugees Charged Up to €750 for False & Useless Documents 
As the local media, such as Firenze Republica and Corriere Fiorentino reported, the documents that the suspects offered were not only false but absolutely unnecessary. 

The refugees were deceived into paying these sums after being told that these documents, which were supposed to be municipal documents such as certificates of residence, among others, could help them obtain a residence permit. 

Since the majority of the people that were affected by this ill-intended scheme were refugees, except for the initial procedures of registration that they had arrived in Tuscany, no other forms or documents needed to be completed. 

The suspects, as the local media reports, had provided forms that seemed to be issued by the Municipalities, which were counterfeit and also the streets and email addresses that were included in these documents, were non-existent.

Italy Granted 330,730 Residence Permits to Foreigners in 2023 
As the data by Istat, the Italian Institute for Statistics revealed, the number of residence permits issued to foreigners in 2023 reached 330,730. In addition, the number of foreigners with regular residence permits during this year was around 3.6 million. 

The number of temporary protection permits issued to Ukrainians impacted this number significantly, with Ukrainians becoming the largest community in Italy to obtain the most residence permits during this period. Even Albanians and Moroccans – two of the largest nationality groups in Italy that obtained permits the most throughout the years, were left behind by Ukrainians. 

However, Albanians, Moroccans and Indians held the first positions for most residence permits for family reunification obtained, while a decrease in these types of permits was noticed among Bangladeshis and Ukrainians. 

The data also reveals that residence permits are increasingly being obtained by foreign nationals, but the preferences have changed, with more applicants seeking family and study permits while there is a decrease in work permits.

Source: https://schengen.news/over-1000-refugees-in-italy-fall-victim-of-residence-permit-scam-scheme/