Even a prison sentence served in the United States was not enough to discourage a young fraudster who enjoyed deceiving elders by posing as their grandson in difficulty in order to easily extract thousands of dollars from them.
• Read also: Three alleged Quebec fraudsters incarcerated in the United States
Assad El Atat, 25, admitted on Monday to having participated in a grandparents-style fraud.
The scheme is the same one used by many other unscrupulous fraudsters. However, it worked and allowed the criminal and his accomplices to pocket $10,000 in a few hours, without much effort.
The two victims of El Atat, two women, each received an urgent call on November 17, 2021. The caller, panicked, posed as their grandson. In tears, he said he was in trouble, having been involved in an accident in which a seven-month pregnant woman had to be taken to hospital.
The young man then explained that he was in the company of a friend’s father, who is a lawyer. Another suspect then impersonated this lawyer on the telephone, in the name of Martin Fréchette.
Filmed by police
If she wanted her grandson to get out of jail, she had to post bail, he told her.
She had to go to a financial institution, take out $5,000, slip the pile of money into a magazine, place it in a large envelope and give it to a mail delivery person.
Above all, she had to keep it a secret, not tell anyone.
It was to Assad El Atat that the envelopes filled with money were delivered. What he didn’t know was that police officers were filming him at the same time.
He had in fact been arrested by Laval police officers, as part of a vast investigation into grandparent-type fraud, which had brought together 187 files throughout Quebec, totaling more than $900,000, reported the Laval Police Department at the time of the arrests.
In total, four individuals were accused, including Assad El Atat. Another accomplice, Gabriel Ménard, 27, also admitted to having participated in the same two frauds.
Gabriel Menard.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
A recurrence
The latter got out with community service and probation.
But El Atat, who already served a prison sentence in the United States for the same type of elder fraud, found himself behind bars.
He was arrested in 2018 with three accomplices, including two other Quebecers, for defrauding elderly people throughout the United States. Victims were told to send thousands of dollars via FedEx to uninhabited homes in Burton, Michigan.
Questioned in the courtroom about his detention in the United States, El Atat said he spent a total of two years in the shadows. This time he received three months in prison.
“I dare to hope that this sentence [purgée aux États-Unis] and this will dissuade you,” said judge Simon Brisson Dolci, denouncing the stratagem used which took advantage of people’s vulnerability.