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A 24-year-old man has been arrested after a Winnipeg senior fell victim to a “grandparent scam,” police say.
The Winnipeg Police Service said a person in their 80s received a phone call from someone pretending to be a justice official on Feb. 27.
The scammer told the senior a relative was arrested and that they needed money so they didn’t go to jail, police said in a news release Friday.
A man the senior didn’t know went to their home and picked up the money after they agreed to pay, the release said.
Police arrested the 24-year-old, who’s from Quebec, and a woman on the 300 block of Tyson Trail, in the Transcona area.
The man faces one count of fraud under $5,000 and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order. The woman was not charged.
Police said the victim reported the incident to police after checking with their family and discovering what the caller said wasn’t true.
‘These fraudsters are so skilled’: constable
Const. Dani McKinnon said in a news conference that incidents such as this often go unreported because victims are embarrassed.
“You’re not a sucker. They didn’t just get you,” McKinnon said. “These fraudsters are so skilled. They’re using AI. They’re doing their homework. They’re accessing things like obituaries to understand who their victim is.”
McKinnon said city police have delivered presentations to more than 300 people as part of the Just Hang Up public awareness campaign, which aims to educate older adults about the scams and how to shut them down once targeted.
Sgt. Trevor Thompson, with the financial crime unit, said people should report potential scams even if they don’t lose money.
“It could link up to other things and show a pattern, even if [you] haven’t been victimized,” he said.
Thompson said investigators can’t say whether this incident is linked to organized crime at this point but there’s often an “element of organization” to this type of fraud.
The 24-year-old remains in custody, police said.
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