Million-euro scam foiled
Three men have been arrested as they were about to withdraw more than 1 million euros from the bank account of an elderly lawyer without his knowledge, police said yesterday. The three men, aged between 38 and 61, were taken into custody at a bank in Athens but it is thought that they had already made a withdrawal of 160,000 euros of the lawyer’s money from a bank in Thessaloniki. The earlier withdrawal had alerted police to their activity. Police said the men had used forged paperwork to convince an unwitting notary to issue them with the power of attorney that would allow them to get their hands on the unnamed lawyer’s money. The victim was hospitalized at the beginning of June and was not aware of the trio’s activities. Officers said they had tracked the men for several months and were lying in wait when the trio went to the bank in Athens.