A Maple Ridge grandmother who heard the voice of her distressed grandson asking for help, as scammers tried to take her money, wants to warn other parents and grandparents how authentic and persuasive this fraud can be.
The Ridge Meadows RCMP have warned the public of an increasing number of cases of what is commonly called the "Grandparents scam" or "Emergency scam", and Estelle Williams experienced it first-hand.
In this type of fraud, the person contacted will be asked to provide money immediately for a family member in trouble. Generally, the situation is that they are arrested, have been robbed, or have been in an accident.
Williams was shaken on Sept. 1 when she got a call on her home phone from her grandson, very distraught, saying his nose and teeth were broken, and was covered in blood after being in a car accident and being taken to jail. It sounded exactly like the young man.
She asked him questions, and he didn't answer. This, she would learn later, was likely a digitally produced recording, created using artificial intelligence and a voice sample of her grandson.
"He sounded very, very upset," she said. "The AI voice sounded real. But he couldn't answer me, because he was incoherent."
Then, a live man came on the phone claiming to be a lawyer who would represent her grandson, who was in jail. The grandson had admitted to texting while driving, the lawyer said, and causing an accident that resulted in a one-year-old with a broken femur. This "lawyer" said the driver was facing jail time, and they would need money to help get him released from custody.
"They used shock, and they used urgency," she said.
Fortunately for Williams, she asked a lot of questions, like where the accident happened, and where the boy had been taken. Eventually, the person posing as the lawyer hung up.
She called her grandson's cell phone but got no response.
Williams said she was still sick with worry for the entire 45 minutes of the ordeal.
Not knowing the true situation, she called police and asked if her grandson was in custody in New Westminster, where the scam call said he was. Police tracked the teen down, and assured Williams everything was okay. She had just avoided giving money to swindlers. She did, however, suffer the personal trauma of what appeared to be a dire situation.
There had been some mistakes that gave her pause, like the boy in the recording called her "mom" when he had contacted his grandmother.
The RCMP reports that all the information a con artist needs for this scam can be found on social media.
Police advice is to be automatically suspicious of anyone asking for money or gift cards. Be extra suspicious if the money is requested by wire, or if money is requested sent via cryptocurrency ATM – both are difficult to recover.
Tips to protect yourself from fraud:
• Slow things down, hang up, and reach out to a relative.
• Ask for the name of the person speaking.
• Make calls of your own to verify identities.
• Don't be afraid to say 'no' to the caller.
• Never give your personal, banking or credit card information to anyone who calls over the phone, and don't send cash or gift cards in the mail.
• Never agree to meet with someone who called you asking for money.
If you think you or someone you know has been a victim of fraud, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
