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The series about the pensions received illegally by thousands of Greeks continue. Insurance funds have revealed hundreds of cases of fraud that have cost them hundreds of thousands of euro. The most common are the cases of relatives of deceased pensioners who have "failed" to inform the funds about the death of their parents, spouses and even uncles and aunts. The other major group includes bogus disabled persons, who continued to work normally even in public enterprises followed by widowed spouses who continued to receive the pensions of the deceased, although they had married again in the meantime.

In today's edition, "Ethnos" newspaper publishes nine cases that have caused the greatest loss to the insurance system and are now under consideration by the judicial authorities.

1.The main characters in the first case are the sons of a pensioner who had "forgotten" to declare his death and continued to receive his pension for nine years. The pensioner with initials K. D. from the Athens district of Kallithea died in October 2002 but his children continued to receive his pension until October 2011, when the fraud was revealed.

His sons received a total of 175,476 euro and this is the largest amount for which a lawsuit has been filed.

2. In the second case, a man not only had "forgotten" to announce his wife's death, but also "failed" to declare his new marriage. The pensioner with initials M. F. from the Athens suburb of Koropi died in 1994 and her husband was receiving her pension.
 
In 2001, he married again but did not inform the insurance fund and continued to receive illegally the pension of his first wife until June 2012. The damage to the fund was to the amount of 160,770 euro.

3. The third case is about a documental fraud. A holder of a joint bank account falsified the date of death of a pensioner in order to continue to receive his pension.

The pensioner died in November 2001, but the joint account holder continued to receive his pension until 2011. The case was revealed in Piraeus and the damage to the insurance fund amounted to 152,736 euro.

4. The son of another deceased pensioner from the Athens suburb of Nea Philadelphia obtained illegally 128,932 euro. His father died in January 2003 but the son continued to receive his pension until October 2011.

5. In some cases, the fraudsters are not even close relatives of the deceased. For example, the branch of the IKA National Insurance Fund on Alexandras Avenue revealed a case of fraud by the niece of a deceased pensioner.

The aunt died in October 2002, but the niece continued to receive her pension until October 2011. The damage to the fund in this case amounted to 115,294 euro.

6. Sometimes, the fraudsters are the account holders themselves. The case of a man who was receiving a disability pension while working in a public enterprise has been sent to court. The citizen of Lamia received 112,943 in the form of pension in the period from 1993 to 2012, while he was receiving a salary at the same time.

7. Another nephew, this time in Heraklion, Crete, had also hidden from the insurance fund that his uncle had died in September 2001. Therefore, he continued to receive his pension for ten whole years until June 2011, the damage to IKA being 104,702 euro.

8. Back in Heraklion, a disability pensioner had been working regularly in a bank for more than 20 years. The man retired in 1983, but from October 1989 to the end of 2010, he was working in a bank, from which he was receiving a due salary. The fraud in this case amounted to 103,763 euro.

9. At the bottom of the ranking of major frauds is the son of a pensioner, who died in August 2002, but her son continued to receive her pension until October 2011. The amount he managed to obtain illegally was 99,686 euro.

So far, Greece's largest social security fund IKA has sent 383 cases to the court aiming to return 10 million euro from them alone.

Currently, 5,500 pensioners who did not appear during the census conducted last year are being checked and the death of the pensioner has been confirmed in 2,819 cases. Their relatives who were receiving the money illegally for years will be summoned to court and forced to return it.

Next, a check of 11,095 pensioners who did not appear during the census in early 2013 and of their relatives who were receiving the pensions on their behalf will follow.