December 5, 2014. A resident of Chelyabinsk Region stands accused of eleven instances of housing fraud in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities report.

‘The inquest team claims the man rented apartments in different parts of Yekaterinburg for a few days in February and March 2012. He allegedly advertised these apartments online and in the newspapers’ To Let’ classified sections on the same day. The interested tenants were shown a fake ID and fictitious title papers; after the rent was paid to him, the ‘owner’ would disappear,’ they say.

The man is now involved in criminal proceedings, with charges of fraud (Article 159 (part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). The inquest team believes over twenty people have fallen victims and the damage stands at over 400,000 RUR.

The criminal lawsuit is to be processed by Yekaterinburg Verkh-Isetsky District Court.