Woman Fakes 17 Pregnancies & Makes A Whopping Rs 98 Lakh In Maternity Benefits

A 50-year-old woman managed to amass an astonishing fortune of Rs 98 lakhs by exploiting state benefits and taking extensive time off from work, all by faking 17 pregnancies.?

UNSPLASH

After her deceitful practices were eventually uncovered, she found herself behind bars.?

The question remains: how was she able to deceive everyone for over 24 years??

Sham pregnancy?

Barbara Ioele, reportedly from Italy, asserted that she experienced 17 pregnancies, but she admitted that only five reached full term, yielding children.

Unsplash

However, prosecutors say that the children were never officially registered or seen by authorities or anyone else.?

Ioele maintained that she gave birth to her most recent child in December. But, law enforcement, who had been monitoring her for the previous nine months, declared that the entire pregnancy was a deception.?

Pillows, walking style: How Barbara was able to fake her pregnancies?

Ioele utilised pillows to simulate a pregnant belly and adopted a walking style to convey the added weight of an unborn child.?

According to prosecutors, the legal aspects of her claims were facilitated by the theft of birth certificates from a clinic in Rome and the use of other forged documents.?

Ioele's partner, 55-year-old Davide Pizzinato, reportedly confessed to the police during questioning that he was fully aware Ioele was seemingly never pregnant.?

IT

In exchange for a reduced sentence, as he was also charged as an accomplice in the fraud, Pizzinato is said to have testified against her.?

Despite facing the allegations, Ioele remained steadfast in her stance, insisting that her five children do exist, and each of her purported pregnancies was authentic.?

Nonetheless, she was sentenced to one year and six months in jail.?

This bizarre and perplexing case raises questions about the loopholes in state benefit systems and the lengths to which individuals go to exploit them.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.? ? ??