Quebec police charge 13 people around Montreal in 'grandparent scam' bust

Quebec police arrested 13 people today in the Montreal area over alleged "grandparent scams" connected to organized crime. 

Sgt. Catherine Bernard, a spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), called the bust a "major operation," which it carried out in tandem with the FBI and other American law enforcement agencies.

Arrests were made in Montreal, the city's borough of Saint-Laurent  as well as the municipalities of Laval, Kirkland and Chambly, Que.

A "grandparent scam" is when a scammer calls or texts a senior saying a loved one is in desperate need of cash and then pretends to be a police officer, lawyer or even a younger family member in order to steal from the victim. 

"The 13 people who were arrested in this operation are going to appear in front of the court this afternoon," said Bernard, adding that more arrests were made in the United States.

The suspects have been charged with identity theft, fraud and gangsterism. They have been released on bail, under conditions that include not leaving the country and not communicating with each other.

According to the SQ, the victims were cheated out of approxmiately $9,000 each.

The ages of the suspects range from 26 to 43. 

While Bernard says the SQ can't pin down the number of seniors who have fallen prey to the scam in the province, there have been hundreds of victims in the United States. 

WATCH | What to do if you get a call demanding payment:

How to protect your loved ones from 'grandparent scams'

1 year ago

Duration 1:43

Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated. Here are some tips on how to help your family members identify a potential scam.

In Canada, there were 408 victims of "pitch offering emergency" scams in Canada, which may involve someone claiming to be in jail, an accident or in need of help. It amounted to $1,473 893 dollars lost.

From January to June 2023, there were 721 victims and $9,245,996 lost.

In August, CBC reported that a grandmother living in the Montreal area, got a call from someone she thought was her granddaughter.

The person on the phone, whom she later came to believe was a scammer using voice-altering technology, described having been arrested.

Then, a second person came on the call, claiming to be an RCMP officer, confirming her granddaughter had been stopped in a car with one of her friends.

The "officer" said her granddaughter was in a holding cell and needed more than $4,000 for bail. The woman had paid the sum before she thought to call her granddaughter, who told her she had not been arrested.

How to protect yourself or a loved one from fraud

• If you get a suspicious call claiming to be a family member in an emergency situation, hang up the phone and call them directly from a phone number you already have for them.

• If a call claims to be a law enforcement official and asks you to pay bail/ fine, hang up and call your police station.

• Police or even the bank, should not be asking you for your credit card numbers, or security codes over the phone, be suspicious and ask for a badge number, employee number then call your local police station or bank.

• Be mindful of what you post on social media/ dating sites, scammers can gather information about names/ details about your loved ones there.

• Do not trust caller ID numbers. Scammers can use technology to disguise their actual number they are calling from, this is called spoofing.

Anyone who suspects they have been the victim of fraud should report it to their local police station and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online reporting system or at 1-888-495-8501.