Hang Up the Phone

You’ve heard about the grandparent scam, where fraudsters call and say your grandchild has been in an accident and needs money or has been arrested and needs bail money. I doubt you’ve heard whether the criminals are ever caught and punished. The crimes make the news, but the punishments often don’t. Perhaps because the penalties issued aren’t nearly enough.

Too many elders fall for scams. Why is that?

Baby Boomers grew up before the internet educated everyone about the unscrupulous people lurking and looking for someone to scam. Boomers are more trusting. So, when someone calls and says their grandchild needs help, they give it. They give the caller their home address, and when the courier arrives at their door … they hand over the money.

Once the thieves get the money, they use traditional banks or cryptocurrency exchanges to move the money.

The window of operation for the six-person team in this true crime ran the scam for nine months before getting caught. In those few months, they scammed hundreds of people and raked in over $3 million.

Two of the six men were in manager/supervisor roles. Both were Canadian citizens. At the time of their arrest, one lived in Colombia and the other in Panama. Two of the co-conspirators lived in the United States—one in New Mexico and the other in Florida. The remaining two co-conspirators lived in Panama.

All pleaded guilty to wire fraud and/or money laundering charges. The court sentenced them as follows:

Canadian manager/supervisor #1 (aged 35): 61 months in prison, 2 years of supervised release, pay $900,000+ in restitution.

Canadian manager/supervisor #2 (aged 47): 72 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release.

U.S. co-conspirator #1 (aged 58): 18 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release.

U.S. co-conspirator #2 (aged 45): 72 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release.

Panama co-conspirator (aged 44): 6 months in prison, 1-year supervised release.

Panama co-conspirator (aged 40): 16 months in prison, 3 years of supervised release.

A U.S. Attorney associated with these cases said about the fraud,

“As we do our part to curb these frauds, I would caution the public to be skeptical of any phone call that presents you with an urgent situation that can be remedied by an immediate payment of money. Those requests are generally a fraud, and you should have the courage to hang up the phone when the caller pushes you even harder for money.”

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.