RCMP warns public after elderly couple lose $22K in apparent 'grandparent scam'

Pictou County District RCMP is warning Nova Scotians about what it says are "grandparent" or "emergency" scams, after an elderly couple were defrauded out of $22,500 over the course of three days.

The couple received a phone call on Sept. 26 from someone claiming to be their grandson and requesting money, police told CBC News.

The man said he had been in a car accident and had injured a pregnant woman, Sgt. Andrew Joyce said.

The elderly couple believed his story and were told that a "courier" or "bondsman" would be sent to pick up $7,500 at their residence.

Joyce said the suspect was male and dressed in business casual attire.

"A couple of days passed after that and they contacted the victims again looking for more money and were able to get a further $15,000," Joyce said. "They called again looking for more money over the weekend and that's when the victim realized that he was being victimized."

'World class' fraudsters

Joyce said the RCMP has received a string of reports about such grandparent scams — in which someone calls an elderly person and makes them believe they're a family member in an emergency situation and in need of money — in the province since last year, first in the Halifax area and then in rural communities. 

"In this case here, like for them to get their funds back, we would have to actually catch these persons in the act and catch them with the money," Joyce said. 

"They're world class and very good at what they do."

Joyce said the fraudsters have an answer for any scenario that a victim might press them on.

Be wary of requests for personal info

He said he has also heard reports of scammers using artificial intelligence to manipulate someone's voice if they can find audio of it online, although there isn't any evidence it was used in this particular case.

"The length that these guys are going to ... they're getting more and more sophisticated," he said.

"They're able to capture like a few sentences of your voice and then they're able to mimic that voice through some AI programming to make it sound exactly like you."

Joyce advised reaching out to family members to warn them about the scam and to be wary of people calling to ask for personal information by phone.

"If somebody calls you and doesn't identify who they are, don't try to identify who they are. Let them identify themselves or simply hang up," he said.

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