Montreal woman who lost thousands in 'grandparent' scam has warning for others

A Montreal-area grandmother says she lost more than $4,000 she had carefully saved over the years to a scam that preyed on her love of family.

Lynne says it happened a few weeks ago, when she got a call from someone she thought was her granddaughter.

CBC has agreed to conceal the grandmother's identity and change her name for this report, because she fears scammers could target her again for speaking out.

"She was in distress, crying on the phone saying she had been arrested," Lynne recounted. The woman on the phone said she had strep throat, Lynne thinks, to disguise any differences in her voice.

The person on the phone, whom Lynne now believes was a scammer who used voice-altering technology, then described having been in a car with someone who was texting. The car was stopped by police, who discovered five kilos of cannabis.

Then, a second person came on the call, claiming to be an RCMP officer, confirming her granddaughter had been stopped in a car with one of her friends.

The "officer" said her granddaughter was in a holding cell and needed more than $4,000 for bail.

He went on to say a court trustee would come for the cash.

Lynne put her savings in an envelope, and walked to the man's vehicle parked outside, where she asked him for a passcode the scammer had provided over the phone — then handed over the money to him.

She thought she was adding a layer of security with the code — that's what the "officer" on the phone had indicated.

"He says 'Walk downstairs with your cellphone with the code, so I can hear what you're doing, and make sure you get the code out of this person before you hand over the money,'" said Lynne.

It was only when she walked back into her home and lay down on her bed that she realized it might have been an elaborate scam.

She texted her granddaughter, who confirmed her worst suspicions. None of it had been true.

"The feelings, the emotions that keep coming back up. I couldn't stop crying. I was feeling extremely vulnerable and scared," described Lynne in the aftermath.