'They get into your head': 90-year-old Okotoks grandmother Lorraine Crawford thwarts scammers

It’s a growing crime trend that features fraudsters tugging at heartstrings, and already Canadians have lost more money this year, than the previous year, to grandparent scams.

RCMP say fraudsters are targeting people by saying a grandchild or other loved one is in trouble with the law and they need money right away to keep them out of jail.

“With everything being more remote now there's definitely greater acceptability of being able to do these things without actually seeing a person or seeing an authority figure,” said Cpl. Sean Milne with Alberta’s RCMP economic crime team.

“They want to create a sense of urgency so that the victim will act before they think,” he said.

The scam didn’t work with 90-year-old Lorraine Crawford of Okotoks.

On September 26, when she got a call about her granddaughter being in trouble, and needing money on the spot, Crawford immediately became suspicious.

“I knew almost at the beginning but then the voice of your granddaughter is in your head, andthat's all you can think about… but I was positive it was a scam," she said.

The first voice Crawford heard sounded exactly like her granddaughter saying she had been in a crash and was now in legal trouble.

The second voice was a man claiming to be a police officer, giving a name and badge number, explaining what he needed to keep Crawford’s granddaughter out of jail.

“(He wanted) $7,200," Crawford said. "And I said, 'and how am I supposed to get this to you?' He said, 'Well, you go to the bank and you take out cash, but you can't tell another soul.' 

"But as soon as he said 'cash'," she added, "I knew, you know that they don't handle cash.”

SCAMMING RAMPANT

RCMP say grandparent scams are rampant in Canada…

In 2022, about 1,000 victims reported losing $9.4 million 

So far in 2023, about 800 victims reported losing $ 9.7 million, already topping last year's total - and those numbers are likely much higher.

"Typically we're getting less than 10 per cent of the actual frauds occurring actually being reported and collected as a statistic," said Cpl. Milne.

RCMP say the key to stopping and preventing fraud is contacting police, even if you realize it part way through.

“A lot of the grandparents scams taking place recently have actually involved where the scammers arrange for what we call a runner to go and actually physically collect money from the victim," Milne said. "Different areas have had some varied success at actually catching these people.”

"Generally, they do tend to operate from the larger population centers in Canada that typically involves them being involved in Ontario Quebec, kind of the Toronto-Montreal corridor. That being said, the runners they recruit are often local," he said.

Crawford says she reported her call immediately.

“I got in my car and drove to the police station," she said.

Lorraine Crawford and her daughter Carol

“She had his name written down. Here's his phone number. There's his badge number,” explained Crawford’s daughter Carol.”

“(I'm) very proud of my mom and of what she did.”

This time the scammer messed with the wrong grandma, but Crawford understands how easily it could have worked.

“I just want people to know, don't be ashamed to say that you were taken in, because they get into your head so bad that it's, it's scary,” said Lorraine Crawford.

Calgary police say last year reported grandparent scams bilked victims out of over $1.8 million.

So far this year… 132 Calgarians have reported nearly $1 million in losses.