Summerside police lay 2 more 'grandparent scam' charges against couple
CBC
Summerside police say they have laid additional charges against a man and woman accused of carrying out "the grandparent scam" to defraud people by saying their grandchildren were in legal trouble and needed bail money.
A news release issued by Summerside Police Services on Friday said Luis Luciano David Cortez Abarca, 26, and Genesis Javiera Carvajal Tapia, 25, were each charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000.
The charges were laid after two people in Summerside were defrauded of $6,000 each on Monday, Aug. 26, the news release said.
"The victims were instructed to obtain the money and would be contacted again by the fraudsters for payment," the police force said. "The fraudsters later attended the victim's residences and the monies were turned over."
A day before that, Charlottetown police said they were contacted by a man who said his grandmother had been phoned by someone with a similar demand for bail money. In that case, the woman grew suspicious and called her grandson to see if he was indeed in trouble.
Officers were at the house when a man arrived to collect the $5,000 that had been demanded, and arrested Cortez.
Investigators later determined that a woman was involved in the operation, and RCMP officers arrested Tapia at a motel in Borden-Carleton on Wednesday.
The two accused are from Chile and had been travelling in a vehicle with New Brunswick plates, Charlottetown police said Thursday.
A Charlottetown court proceeding on Friday was told that they are husband and wife.
Similar incidents of fraud were earlier reported in the New Brunswick communities of Miramichi, Bathurst, Campbellton and Caraquet.
Cortez and Tapia face charges of fraud under $5,000 and fraud over $5,000 relating to the Charlottetown incident that led to their arrests, as well as a second incident reported to police.
They are scheduled to appear in provincial court in Summerside on Sept. 4, and will be back in provincial court in Charlottetown the following day.
In the meantime, they will stay in custody.
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