Two Montrealers pinned for the “grandson” scam

Two young Montrealers who allegedly participated in a series of scams targeting seniors in Ontario have just been nabbed by Ottawa police. According to the police force, they worked within a network of fraudsters who travel from city to city between Montreal and Toronto to commit their thefts.

Tristan Peloquin
The Press

The two suspects, 22-year-old Jason Goulet-Fernandez and 19-year-old Danielle Jiminez-Golez, were linked by investigators to five cases of a scheme known as the “grandparent fraud”. or “the grandson’s scam.” The two suspects allegedly stole at least $46,000 from five victims through this scheme.

The scam begins with an accomplice in a call center contacting random elderly people on the phone, telling them, crying, that he was involved in an accident, that he was injured and that drugs was found at the scene. “The fraudster lets his victim give him details. He says, “Grandma, do you recognize me?” said Ottawa Police Service spokesperson Chantal Arsenault.

When the victim drops the name of one of her grandchildren, the fraudster uses it to confuse her.

Then a fake lawyer or fake policeman takes over the phone and asks for cash bail to be posted so the grandchild can be released on bail. “They are telling their victim that there is a production order from the Court and that if they tell anyone about it, they are jeopardizing the trial of their grandchild,” adds Ms.^me Arsenault.

This is where fraudsters in the field come into play. They go to the victim’s home and pretend to be a bailiff who comes to collect the money.

Ottawa police say they have noticed since January that organized groups of fraudsters from distant towns settle in the area for a while, before moving on to another area after causing a few victims. “It’s really ‘organized’ crime,” says Ms.^me Arsenault since several actors are involved in different regions to make the fraud work.

“We hope that other victims will come out of the shadows,” said the spokesperson for the police department.

In their travels, Goulet-Fernandez and Jiminez-Golez were filmed aboard a Honda Civic with a Quebec license plate. It was first the officers of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) who got their hands on them in Morrisburg, near Cornwall. The Ottawa police then managed, thanks to the images released by the OPP, to link the two individuals to five complaints received in the previous days.

Jason Goulet-Fernandez has a well-stocked judicial record in Quebec, including convictions for break and enter, receiving stolen goods, drug trafficking and non-compliance with probation conditions. The two suspects will face charges of fraud over $5,000, conspiracy and possession of the proceeds of crime.