13 Canadians charged in 'grandparent scam' investigation case that started in Baltimore
BALTIMORE – U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies this week announced charges against 13 people accused of an alleged "grandparents scam."
The investigation dates back to 2018 when Baltimore Police started noticing packages being sent to vacant and abandoned rowhomes in the city, according to FBI Special Agent Jason Bender.
Bender said the alleged fraudsters did not stay in Baltimore.
"They might go to Philadelphia for a week and find empty houses in Philadelphia, or New Jersey, or Florida," Bender said. "In this case, we had victims from almost every state in the U.S. sending money across state borders."
David Green, 25, of Miami Gardens, Fla., Medard Ulysse, 38, of Miami, Fla., Eghosasere Avboraye-Igbinedion, 26, of Miramar, Fla., Amaya English, 21, of Baltimore, and McArnold Charlemagne, 35, of Miramar, Fla., have all been convicted for their roles in the scheme.
This week, Canadian officials brought charges against 13 additional suspects in the Montreal area.
"Burner phones that really weren't attributable to a subject we could identify, but they were coming from Canadian phone numbers," Bender said. "And (victims were) told one of their grandchildren or a family relative was in trouble with the law and they were directed to send cash."
In April, WJZ featured a victim of a similar scam: Maryland man loses $38K to "grandparent scam" using replicated voice.
"We were frantic to obey everything they said. It doesn't make sense in retrospect," he told WJZ. "(The voice) fooled my wife, me, and we played the tape of the third phone call—it fooled her parents, too."
The man was scammed out of $38,000.
FBI data in 2022 shows almost 400 people over 60 years old were victims of a "grandparent scam," totaling about $4 million in losses. Actual losses are likely much higher, investigators say due to the lack of victims coming forward.
"Each victim that comes forward, even as unfortunate as it is, it's another piece of the puzzle for us," Bender said.
The FBI encourages anyone who feels they may have been a victim of similar scams to report it through its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov.
