Four people have been sent to trial after allegedly defrauding holders of cemetery plots in Bucharest of hundreds of thousands of lei

Four people have been sent to trial by the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Sector 6 District Court, accused of defrauding holders of cemetery plots in the capital’s cemeteries between March 2025 and March 2026. The reported damage amounts to 615,261 lei, 18,000 euros and 23,234 dollars, and has not been recovered.

According to investigators, the suspects relied on people who visited the cemeteries daily to identify potential victims. They were falsely told that their graves were flooding neighboring plots and that they risked sanctions if they did not urgently carry out repairs. In some cases, the funerary monuments had been damaged beforehand to make the scenario appear credible.

After gaining the victims’ trust, the defendants requested money for overpriced work, loans they did not intend to repay, or the alleged brokering of cemetery plot sales. In one case, one of them allegedly posed as an Orthodox priest despite not holding that position, while the payments were supported by forged contracts, invoices and receipts.

Two defendants, who are under house arrest, are on trial for fraud, continued fraud and use of forged documents. The other two, who are under judicial supervision, are accused of aiding and abetting fraud. The court is expected to rule on whether the preventive and precautionary measures should be maintained.