York Regional Police is releasing a video interview of an elderly victim who fell prey to the ‘grandparent’ or ‘emergency’ scam to help raise awareness of these types of frauds in the community and prevent others from becoming targets.
Using the pseudonym ‘Nicky’, the 81-year-old Newmarket resident shares how he and his wife lost close to $100,000 in a scheme that took place between March and May 2022.
In March 2022, Nicky’s wife received a phone call from a person she believed to be her grandson. He claimed that he had been arrested while he was a passenger in his friend’s car, which unbeknownst to him, contained illegal drugs and a gun. A second person, claiming to be an RCMP officer, soon gained the trust of the couple and over the course of two months, persuaded them to make four separate payments to assist their grandson.
Nicky is one of many York Region residents who have been the target of fraudsters in 2022. More than 50 reports of grandparent scams have been received by York Regional Police in 2022 alone, a 100 per cent increase so far from 2021. Since 2019, victims have suffered collective losses nearing $1 million and this worsening trend is of great concern to the police and the community.
In the video, Nicky is interviewed by Detective Sergeant Glenn Wright, the officer-in-charge of the York Regional Police Financial Crimes Unit, as well as Detective Constable Leanne Guthrie, an investigator assigned to the case who has helped to support the victims and their family while the investigation is ongoing.
Despite the fact recovering funds lost through fraud is extremely rare, through this investigation and with co-operation from financial institutions, police have helped recover $16,000 to date.
Investigators believe there may be more victims in our region that have not yet reported to police.
Nicky shares his story to raise awareness. The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/jK5ztevETPA