"I Am Really My Mother": Man in Poor Disguise Caught While Trying to Collect Pension

Delayed Death Report for Three Years, Body Hidden in Laundry Room
Caught by Alert Government Employee During Office Visit

A man in Italy was caught after disguising himself and visiting a government office in order to continue collecting his deceased mother's pension. It was revealed that he had been receiving the pension for three years after her death. On November 24, Yonhap News TV, citing the Daily Mail and other sources, reported that a man in his 50s in Italy was apprehended after hiding his mother’s body at home and failing to report her death, all while continuing to collect her pension.

The photo on the left shows the late mother Graciela Dalolio, and the right shows a man disguised as the mother visiting City Hall. Photo by Daily Mail

When his mother’s identification expired earlier this month, the man disguised himself as his mother and visited a government office. However, his suspicious appearance aroused the staff’s doubts, and they reported him to the police, exposing his fraudulent scheme. At the time, the man wore a wig and a skirt, applied lipstick and foundation, and accessorized with a pearl necklace and earrings to impersonate his mother.

The man claimed to be his mother at the government office, but his deep voice and thick neck made staff suspicious, prompting them to call the police. Although unemployed, the man’s annual income reached about 53,000 euros (approximately 90 million won) thanks to his mother’s pension and three houses. It is believed that his mother died about three years ago at the age of 82. When police responded to the report and searched his home, they discovered his mother’s mummified body in the laundry room. Investigators stated, "At present, it appears likely that the mother died of natural causes, but we will confirm the exact cause through an autopsy." The man is under investigation for illegally concealing the body and fraudulently receiving pension payments.

Meanwhile, similar incidents have occurred in Japan, where children have disguised themselves as their deceased mothers or left the bodies of elderly parents unattended without holding funerals. In some cases, children were too poor to afford a funeral, but most often, it was to continue collecting their parents’ pensions. The background to these incidents is known as the "8050 problem."

The "8050 problem" refers to the phenomenon, increasingly prominent in Japan, where parents in their 80s support unemployed children in their 50s. According to data from the Japanese National Police Agency, the number of people arrested for abandoning bodies has been rising among the middle-aged and elderly, particularly those in their 40s and older. In 2023, arrests included 19 people in their 40s, 52 in their 50s, 31 in their 60s, and 24 aged 70 or older, far exceeding the 10-year average. Most of those arrested were unemployed individuals in their 40s to 60s. They cited reasons such as "not knowing what to do with the body" and "not wanting to talk to people."