Con artist targets Alberta grandmothers

A woman posed as a granddaughter in an attempt to swindle money from seniors in a home, police said on Friday.

The woman called up two residents of a seniors lodge in Bonnyville, northeast of Edmonton, in late September and pretended to be their granddaughter, telling them she was in trouble and needed thousands of dollars wired to an address in Quebec.

"What can you say about someone who preys on a senior in the lodge to take away their money? There are things in life that are low and there are things in life that are very, very low," said Bonnyville Staff Sgt. David Elliott.

The fake granddaughter seemed to pick her targets at random then strung them along based on what the elderly women were saying, he said.

"It was basically: 'Hello grandma, it's your granddaughter.' 'Oh, is that you Sophie?' 'Yes,'" said Elliot.

The woman used the approach with two seniors in the lodge on the same day, asking one senior for $3,000. 

The real granddaughter of that elderly women figured out what was going on and stopped her grandmother from wiring the money. The second woman also sent no cash.

Elliot said the Quebec address was just a "drop box" and the money was going to be wired on to other addresses.

This is the first report of such a scam in his region, but seniors are common "marks" for cons, Elliot said.

"A lot of scams are targeted to elderly people. They seem to be more trustworthy. They come from a generation that trusted people more."