Home » Police Warn of Grandparent Scam

Police Warn of Grandparent Scam

by RCMP

(Prince Albert Police Service Photo)

According to information received from the Warman RCMP detachment, at approximately 12:00pm, on Tuesday, December 10th, an elderly couple in Warman received a call from someone claiming to be their grandson who said he was in an accident and needed several thousand for bail money.

Although the caller did not sound like the grandson, the caller explained he was in fact the grandson but had a cold, he then handed the phone off to someone who claimed to be the grandson’s lawyer.

The alleged lawyer stated they had connections to a law firm in Saskatoon and would send a courier over to collect the money. Within minutes a well-dressed female arrived at the residence and collected the money. A short time later the “grandson” called back and said he needed the funding in American currency, and they needed to e-transfer another $3000, which was done.

The elderly couple then called the grandson, who had no idea what they were talking about. In total, the victims of the call provided a total of more than $10,000 to the fraud.

Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) shared a photo of a person of interest in a Family/Grandparent/Friend emergency scam, noting that they are currently investigating multiple reports from members of the public regarding this scam.

The scam reported by PAPS was similar to the incident in Warman, which included someone contacting a potential victim, often an older or vulnerable adult, and claiming to be a family member or friend in an emergency situation and requiring financial support.  According to the Warman RCMP, the victim of the fraud case that they are currently investigating, identified the woman in the photo provided by PAPS as the same one that that was involved in their scam.

“The fraudsters will often work in tandem and connect the victim to another person claiming to be a police officer, lawyer, doctor, or representative of another profession,” PAPS stated in a release on social media, adding that any legitimate authority would never make these kinds of requests.

S/Sgt Jason Teniuk of the Warman RCMP Detachment suggested a few steps that can be taken if the public is confronted with this situation:

  1. If they get a call from a relative tell them they will call them back before committing to anything. Calls are coming from an unknown phone number typically.
  2. Check with family members first thing, there is rarely a situation where money is needed within minutes.
  3. Be careful of what you put online; scammers can obtain a great deal of information from social media accounts to make the scam that much more believable.
  4. Contact your RCMP Detachment. They can often spot frauds instantly and you may be able to provide information to make an arrest. The RCMP strongly encourages the public to contact their local detachment if they are unsure.
  5. Discuss any requests for money with your bank. They are also experts at detecting fraud. Fraudsters will often discourage potential victims from contacting their bank as banks also see a lot of different frauds.
  6. Take the time to investigate what is being asked of you. Fraudsters rely on the element of high pressure and quick rash decisions. As mentioned, there is rarely a situation where money is required immediately.
  7. Should someone show up at your door, ask to see ID and if selling something ask for a business license. The more questions you ask the better off you will be to understand what is going on.

These types of crimes are difficult to investigate and rarely result in charges. It is even more rare to recover money that was lost. Taking the time to sort out what is going on before doing something rash will make a huge difference. As mentioned earlier, if you are unsure call your local RCMP or bank and discuss the request.

Be sure to talk to your friends and families to discuss these scams and spread awareness, especially to older or vulnerable adults, to help prevent this from happening.

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