rt.com | A group of people who posed as Russian Orthodox priests and performed fake holy rituals for money has been arrested in St. Petersburg.

The swindlers had a constant supply of clients thanks to links with a morgue’s administration. Relatives of the dead were lured by their adverts, claiming that their chapel was blessed by the Metropolitan bishop of St. Petersburg and Ladoga region, police report.

In reality, however, only one of the gang members had ever been ordained by the Russian Orthodox Church. The gang leader, a former priest, had been stripped of his rank for misbehavior. Apparently he taught others how to perform rituals and how to act like a real priest. In fact, the chapel they built on the territory of the morgue had not been sanctified, or even put on city maps.