3 charged in ‘grandparent scam’ for duping 73-year-old woman

York Regional Police have arrested and charged three people in connection with allegedly duping a 73-year-old woman of thousands of dollars in a “grandparent scam.”

Police say a woman received a call from a suspect pretending to be a police officer on Nov. 24, telling her that her grandson had been arrested. The suspect said it would cost $9,000 for him to be released.

Three suspects then went to the woman’s home in a vehicle and one of them collected $5,000 from the victim.

After they left, the woman received another phone call and was told she had to pay an additional $4,000.

Police found the vehicle in Brampton and stopped the suspects before they took more cash from the victim.

Dikran Artin Khano, 22, and Kasson Roker, 19, both from Laval, Que., as well as Kaouane Ram, 21, of no fixed address, are facing charges of fraud over $5,000, extortion and possession of property obtained by crime. Rami and Roker are also charged with failure to comply with a court order.

How the scam works and how to protect yourself

Police say in a grandparent scam, criminals will typically call an elderly person and pose as their grandchild in distress, asking for money to get them out of trouble.

In some cases another suspect may pretend to be a police officer, government official or lawyer and provide instructions on how the victim can send them money.

“These types of frauds may be repeated over the course of days, weeks or even months, as the criminals gain the trust of their victims,” says a police release.

York Regional Police offers the following tips to protect yourself from falling victim to such fraud:

• Never give personal or financial information to the caller
• Call the grandchild or family member in question on a phone number you know is their own
• Ask the caller questions only your grandchild could answer but an imposter could not
• Verify the story with other family members first
• If the caller says they are a government official, insist on more details and verify their information
• Don’t act in haste — take some time to ask yourself if the call makes sense and if it could be a scam before reacting
• Never send money to someone you don’t know