25 Canadians charged in ‘grandparent scam’ aimed at US seniors
Said the office in one Recently not closed indictment That for a period of three years from 2021 to 2024 the activity “phone calls of call centers in and around Montreal, Québec” concerned, in which ‘the defendants falsely claimed to be the family member of an older victim, usually a grandchild, who was arrested after a car crash and money for’ bail. “”
Other persons who are reportedly involved in the scam formed as a ‘lawyer’ who represented the family member of the scam victim, often said with victims that a ‘gag -by -command’ who apparently prevented the victim told someone about the supposed arrest of their family member.
“Older victims were convinced to provide a guarantee to a person who falsely presented himself as a bail beers who would come to the house of the older victim to collect the money,” said the lawyer’s office. “This money was later sent to Canada after cash deliveries and financial transactions, sometimes with cryptocurrency, which, according to the indictment, obscured the source of the money and the identity of the defendants.”
The Canadian law enforcement last June in various call centers executed search orders in various call centers, allegedly catching the perpetrators in the law while they call victims in Virginia. The total estimated monetary value of the scam is said to have obtained the victims of no less than $ 21 million, according to the lawyer’s office.
If convicted, five of the defendants are confronted with a maximum prison sentence of a maximum of 40 years, while the remaining defendants are confronted with conditions of a maximum of 20 years.
“While the transnational criminal conspiracy described in the indictment of vulnerable victims in the United States, these charges are the result of meticulous research work of Vermont -based agents of Homeland Security Research, American customs and border protection and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal investigation, “said acting American lawyer Michael Drescher in one preparatory explanation.
“We also recognize the extensive research aid of Sûreté du Québec and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police“In addition to contributions from” numerous other local, national and federal researchers and agencies in the United States who helped the investigation, and praised the contributions of the contributions US Department of Justice Office of International Affairs, as well as the International Assistance Group at Justice Canada. “
Despite some positive developments in recent years, including data that suggests that baby boomers are more resilient against AI-driven scams, older Americans remain an important target of scams by bad actors.
Last summer, consumer and industrial interest groups – including the American Land Title Association (Alta), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), National Association of Realtors (Nar) and Hustle – The alarm sounded about a rising trend of older real estate fraud and financial exploitation in a jointly released issue.
According to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Data quoted In the shortness, American residents aged 60 and older lost more than $ 1.9 billion in such scams in 2023. Additional information from the FBIThe internet crime complaints center (IC3) 2023 report showed that the cohort lost more than $ 65 million, specifically bound to real estate ships, which influenced around 1,498 victims.
Based on the FBI data, this is an increase of 14% in the financial exploitation of the elder from 2022 levels.
