Police arrest will forgery gang that netted property worth 1.3 mln euros

The Greek Police on Thursday said that it has arrested seven suspects - among them a former MP for New Democracy - believed to be members of a gang that has been forging wills in order to falsely inherit property and money for the past five years at least.

The police file is built around evidence that members of the gang forged the wills of two siblings, a sister and brother who died in 2006 and 2008 respectively after sudden illnesses. The gang allegedly wrote out wills in their names and then members presented themselves to the authorities as witnesses claiming to have known the deceased and identifying the handwriting as being authentic on order to get the wills certified.

The two wills bequeathed a total of 12 properties in various parts of Attica worth an estimated 1.2 million euros to members of the gang. Of these, two were sold to unsuspecting buyers and the other 10 were either put up for rent or used by gang members as their residence.

Investigators believe that gang may have been involved in more swindles of this nature, approaching elderly or infirm people with little if any family and learning details concerning their ties and assets that could be used later in false inheritance claims. The gang is also suspected of having tried to withdraw money from their victims' bank accounts.

Four women and three men have been arrested, while police are looking for another three suspects.