Since early Wednesday morning, Sûreté du Québec investigators have been arresting several individuals allegedly involved in a grandparent-type fraud network linked to Montreal organized crime, in particular the mafia.
The victims would be mainly elderly people who live in the United States and the total amount of the fraud would amount to at least 10 million, according to our information.
While a wave of searches took place in the greater metropolitan region in March 2021 as part of this investigation called Partnership, investigators from the National Organized Crime Repression Squad (ENRCO), their colleagues from Economic Crimes and those of the Division of Investigation of Murders and Disappearances Related to Organized Crime are this time carrying out the final sweep so that fraud charges can be laid against the suspects Wednesday afternoon at the Montreal courthouse.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
One of the suspects arrested
A total of a dozen people were targeted this morning in Montreal, Laval, Saint-Laurent, Kirkland and Chambly. More than 50 police officers took part in the arrests.
According to our information, one of the suspects arrested Wednesday morning is Joshua Sarroino, who was accused of the premeditated murder of Éric Francis De Souza, 24, committed in a restaurant in the DIX30 district in Brossard in May 2019, and who had been acquitted in June after a jury trial. The prosecution then appealed the case.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Joshua Sarroino
“Several American partners such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Baltimore Field Office, United States Attorney’s Offices-District of Maryland and Southern District of Indiana, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation-Chicago Field Office-Indianapolis Post of Duty, Indianapolis Metro Drug Task Force, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Postal Inspection Service take part in the project,” wrote the Sûreté du Québec in a press release issued Wednesday morning.
“The objective of the organization was to collect lists of names of elderly people domiciled in the United States and distribute them to members of the organization at a cost per name. Subsequently, these people were contacted as part of a “grandparent” type fraud scheme, that is to say, the suspects requested an urgent payment to help a supposed family member. already explained the SQ in a press release issued in January 2022.
Past arrests in the United States
In March 2021, the American authorities had arrested at least five suspects linked to this network.
According to an indictment filed in Indianapolis, elderly people were called by a caller who claimed to be a police officer or lawyer. The individual made it appear that one of the victim’s grandchildren was in difficulty and that he needed a sum of money which could vary from $5,000 to $15,000.
Suspects spent an average of a week in an American city before moving to another location. They found unoccupied homes to deliver the packages containing the money, collected the loot, then disappeared.
According to our information, the fraudulent calls were made from Montreal.
These itinerant money collectors are said to have scoured Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, Mississippi, Ohio and South Carolina. According to the indictment, they communicated using an encrypted messaging application.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.