Italian Woman Who Faked 17 Pregnancies And Claimed Millions In Maternity Benefit Jailed

An Italian woman who faked 17 pregnancies to make a small fortune in state benefits has been jailed. According to Metro, the woman, identified as 50-year-old Barbara Loele, falsely claimed that she had 12 miscarriages and 5 children over the period of 24 years.

She received around 110,000 euros (approximately Rs 98 lakh) in maternity benefits and she also racked up a considerable amount of time off work as a result of her fake pregnancies. But prosecutors in her case said that none of the children she had during her purported pregnancies were registered with the state and had never been seen by officials or anyone else.

According to the outlet, Ms Loele’s alleged fraud was made possible by the theft of birth certificates from a clinic in Rome and other forged documents.

Ms Loele claimed to have delivered her latest child last December. However, police said that they had the 50-year-old under surveillance throughout the preceding nine months and that the whole pregnancy was a sham. They also accused the 50-year-old of using pillows to give herself the appearance of a baby bump, as well as walking as if carrying the additional weight of an unborn child.