Italy seizes €1.17 million counterfeit cash, arrests in visa and tax fraud probes

The Guardia di Finanza seized more than €1.17 million in counterfeit €50 notes and dozens of forged identity documents aboard a truck in the port of Trieste. The haul originated from Turkey and was bound for Germany, highlighting a trans‑national network that uses digital platforms and the dark web to produce illegal currency and papers.

In southern Italy, prosecutors in Lecce ordered 30 precautionary measures, including 16 jail terms, against an organised group that allegedly turned the national "Decreto Flussi" migrant‑entry scheme into a black‑market operation. The ring is accused of fabricating thousands of job offers for migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, charging up to €6,500 per applicant.

The anti‑mafias office in Avellino closed a tax‑fraud investigation in Solofra that involved 34 businessmen and professionals linked to fake invoicing and money‑laundering in the leather‑goods sector, with alleged losses of tens of millions of euros.

In Vibo Valentia, a preventive seizure of more than €8.5 million was imposed on a tourism entrepreneur suspected of fraudulently claiming southern‑Italy investment tax credits. Similar fraudulent practices were uncovered in Forlì‑Cesena, where a ship‑building company used fictitious subcontractor contracts to hide €3.5 million of false invoices and illegally employ 254 workers.

Benevento prosecutors seized roughly €4.8 million from five electronics firms after uncovering a carousel scheme that used bogus intra‑EU purchases to evade VAT. The coordinated actions illustrate a broad crackdown on financial and immigration fraud across the country.