Warsaw city police have arrested five people for attempting to extort 6.7 million zloty (1.5 million euro) in mortgage credit from a bank.

The group of criminals used fraudulent ownership documents for buildings in Warsaw in an attempt to refinance them and make money, announced police.

The fraud started in January when Lucyna B., a 65-year-old resident of Sweden and her 52-year-old friend Robert S. from Warsaw filed a request at a bank in the centre of the city for a mortgage to buy a building in the Mokotow district of the city.

“The first problems arose when bank employees attempted to verify the attached documents. The process showed that the woman was not credit-worthy enough to take out enough money to buy a whole building,” stated Anna Kedzierzawska, spokesperson for the Warsaw City Police.

The two then decided to seek the help of a middle-man to obtain the mortgage.

“That was how they found 36-year-old Tomasz L. from Lodz [central Poland]. The man, as a creditee, was able to submit papers to the bank to co-sign on the mortgage for Lucyna B. and Robert S.,” added Kedzierzawska.

It turned out that Tomasz L.’s paperwork was fabricated and the police, working together with the heads of the bank, began an investigation into the case. Tomasz L. ‘worked’ for a company that never existed and was never officially registered.

The police arrested five people on Wednesday in connection to the case. Two people who worked with Tomasz L. were also arrested, their testimonies taken and they were immediately released. City courts issued official arrests yesterday for Lucyna B., Robert S. and Tomasz L., who face up to twelve years in prison.

This is the second case of its type in recent weeks. In February, police arrested four people at two banks in Warsaw for attempting to extort over 1 million zloty (about 250,000 euro) in mortgages in a similar manner. (mmj)