Manitoba grandmother loses thousands of dollars in scam, police warn

RCMP in Stonewall, Man., have charged a 32-year-old man in connection to the grandparent scam that has been seen across the country over the last couple of years.

Mounties say on Feb. 28, they received a report of a fraud, after a 79-year-old woman claimed she was a victim of the grandparent scam.

The report indicated that she had received a phone call a couple of days prior from someone claiming to be her grandson. The caller reportedly said he was in a collision in Winnipeg and was arrested and needed bail money.

From there, the woman was reportedly instructed to take out $8,000 in cash, and it would be picked up from her home. She then received a secondary phone call from someone claiming to be her grandson’s lawyer, who then informed her a courier would be picking up the money, and she was told not to tell anyone.

A man then came by the home and picked up the money, police say.

The woman told RCMP the next day, she continued to receive phone calls saying she needed to pay an additional $8,000 in fines to exonerate her grandson. Police say the same pick-up process occurred.

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She then reportedly received more calls over the next few days, asking for more money, at which point, when she went to a bank, she was advised that she was likely a victim of the scam, and should report it to police.

RCMP says a suspect had scheduled a time to come by the woman’s home, and in doing so, was taken into custody.

Nathanial South, 32, has been charged for fraud over $5,000. Mounties say he was also wanted in Alberta on a warrant for fraud.

“Too many people are losing large sums of money to this scam, and we want Manitobans to be aware,” said Corporal Julie Courchaine of the Manitoba RCMP. “Please bring up this topic with friends and family as education and awareness will help protect others from being defrauded.”

Mounties say they’ve seen an increase in this type of scam. Since the start of the year, there have been 13 similar incidents across southern Manitoba that have been reported to police. From those, roughly $70,000 has been lost.

“We believe there may be more victims of this scam and are asking the public to report any similar frauds to your local police as soon as possible,” said the RCMP in a statement.