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A day after two elderly Vancouver Island women told RCMP they had been scammed for thousands of dollars, a man walked into the detachment saying he took their money during his delivery work and was unsure if what he was doing was legal.
B.C.’s Director of Civil Forfeiture argues it was not.
As CBC News has learned from court documents and speaking to police and experts, the elderly women and the man who handled their money may all be victims of two prevalent fraud issues in Canada: grandparent scams and bogus job offers.
The documents allege the man accepted an unsolicited job offer that led to him serving as a go-between in the grandparent scam.
The Director — who is empowered to seize property linked to crime even if its owners haven’t been convicted — filed a civil claim this month to take a bank account and $7,500 believed to be connected to fraud.
Filings allege that in all, the courier handled about $30,000, likely from grandparent scams. No one has been charged criminally and none of the allegations have been proven in court.
Police on Vancouver Island are investigating a series of grandparent scams that bilked seniors out of about $30,000. But as court documents show, the man who took their money may have been conned himself. As Liam Britten reports, it’s a tale of scammers getting creative and careful with their schemes.
Jeff Horncastle, who speaks for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, says the court filings illustrate how fraudsters may trick “money mules” into their schemes as a way of distancing themselves from illegal acts.
“Basically, they’re hiding behind layers of people,” Horncastle said. “Whether it’s bank accounts, transfers, [it serves] to make investigations, at the end of the day, more difficult for law enforcement.”
Stats from the Anti-Fraud Centre show job scams are growing in Canada. In 2022, 1,759 victims reported losing over $7 million to these grifts. In 2024, 2,389 victims lost over $48 million.
Grandparent scams — classified as “emergency scams” by the Anti-Fraud Centre — despite dropping in victim count and dollar losses over the same time frame, still cost 561 people over $3 million in 2024.
Two seniors lose over $14K
According to a West Shore Mountie’s affidavit and a police report included with the Director’s filings, a Langford, B.C., woman phoned RCMP on Nov. 13 to report being scammed.
She said a man claiming to be her grandson called her saying he was in jail.
She then got a call from a man claiming to be the grandson’s attorney, the report continued, who explained his courier would come to her home for $7,200 to pay legal fees.
Both calls were phony.
The woman, according to the police report, later called her grandson’s home and he picked up.
Two days later, the report states, officers met with another elderly woman in Langford.
On Nov. 13, she too handed money over to a man who came to her house, but couldn’t remember why she gave the money and how much she handed over. Her husband explained she had memory issues.
The day after the women lost their money, the man police believe they handed cash to walked into the West Shore RCMP detachment.
Texts and calls from ‘Top’
CBC News is not naming the courier as he has not been charged with a crime. In fact, police believe the courier was a victim as well.
“He was in a vulnerable position in the sense that he was looking for employment, so it seemed to be a good opportunity for him,” said West Shore RCMP spokesperson Const. Kelsi Yoxall. “We’re grateful that he came forward.”
On Nov. 13, days after accepting an unsolicited job offer, an unknown man named “Top” in documents, told the courier to pick up cash from the address of the first victim.
Top told the him to keep $200 and deposit the rest at a currency exchange in Downtown Victoria.
Then, the affidavit continued, Top directed him to the second victim’s house where he collected $7,600. On Top’s instructions, he deposited it in the TD bank account the Director is applying to seize.
On Nov. 14, the courier completed two more pickups.
The first saw an elderly man bring him $8,400. Top instructed the courier to keep $200 and deposit the rest in two CIBC accounts.
“Make sure it doesn’t exceed $5,000,” Top texted the courier, according to a text message included with the affidavit.
Recovery Kidz, a B.C.-based charity, is out hundreds of dollars after scammers tampered with gift cards. Founder Alexis Root says companies are doing consumers a disservice by allowing the problem to persist.
The same elderly man, police wrote, later brought the courier $7,500.
“While it is unknown who gave the money to [the courier], I believe the money was also the result of a grandparent scam,” the police affidavit reads.
That same day the courier went to police “as he wanted to know if what he was doing was legal,” the police report stated.
He met an officer at the West Shore RCMP detachment and gave her the $7,500 from the final dropoff, which the Director is also applying to seize.
Fake job, real peril
Serving as a go-between in a grandparent scam can lead to dire consequences.
A Manitoba judge sentenced a man to three years behind bars for what he termed “despicable” grandparent scams that defrauded eight seniors of $30,000. The judge called the crimes “essentially elder abuse.”
Lethbridge Police issued a warning about sham employment offers online that can turn naive applicants into “mules” for other crimes.
“Accepting such work — knowingly or unknowingly — can result in serious criminal charges,” officers warned.
Horncastle says, however, much more prevalent approaches are to grift money directly from the would-be employee. And, he pointed to the Anti-Fraud Centre’s online tips to help seniors and job-seekers protect themselves from a con.