Quebec man charged in multiple 'grandparent scams' in N.L. granted bail

The telephone rings and the voice of your frantic grandchild wakes you up.

There's been an accident. He's in trouble and needs your help.

A second voice takes the phone. It's a lawyer and he tells you your grandchild will be safe and everything will be OK if you send them some money. 

This is the alleged call to at least seven grandparents in Gander and one in St. John's last week.

Luiggi Yataco of Quebec is facing many charges related to incidents in Gander, including four counts of fraud over $5,000, extortion, and one charge of possession of instruments for breaking into coin-operated or currency exchange devices. 

He is also facing similar charges from a separate matter in St. John's: charges of fraud over $5,000, extortion, disguising with intent and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

The 34-year-old was granted bail and placed under the supervision of a surety, who must pay $5,000 if Yataco breaches his bail conditions.

"No discredit to [the grandparents], these crimes are becoming more sophisticated," said the RCMP's Cpl. Jolene Garland. "We believe technology was used in these cases to mimic the voices of, you know, grandchildren, which is really quite convincing to the victims."

Yataco was arrested Oct. 5 in Gander. The RCMP were called after a local man said he was the victim of a scam. The man said he handed over a large sum of money to the caller, and contacted police when he was asked to then provide more money.

The man then visited the RCMP detachment to report it, and returned home with officers accompanying him. Police say they were able to arrest Yataco when he attempted a second collection from his victim.

"We were fortunate enough, I guess, that the [alleged] scammer came back for more, that they were greedy and wanted the second sum and that the victim was savvy enough to realize, 'Hey, something's not right here,'" Garland said.

Police did not say whether artificial intelligence is being used by scammers to mimic the voices of loved ones but acknowledged the phone calls are not solely from someone doing an impersonation of another person's voice.

"This type of [alleged] crime … uses a lot of technology; there's a lot of planning put in place."

Arrests such as the one last week are rare for the RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador. Unfortunately, says Garland, a lot of them go unreported and it's difficult to catch those responsible.

"If something like this happened to you last week in Gander, you should absolutely contact the detachment," Garland said. "It's one of those things that people shouldn't be embarrassed about or fearful about. You know, it definitely needs to be reported to police."

Yataco is scheduled to be back in St. John's court for an election and plea on Nov. 9 and to return to Gander court on Nov. 19.

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