Vermont officials have accused 25 Canadians of participating in a “grandfather fraud” who deceived the US elderly from $ 21 million from their pension savings.
Individuals placed calls from the call centers inside and around Montreal, Québec, between summer 2021 and June 4, 2024. In calls, a first group of fraudsters (“openings”) claimed to be relatives of the victims’ elderly, usually a nephew, and said they would have been arrested on bail. They told victims they could not tell anyone about arrest because of a Gaga order.
“Spaces” had spreadsheets containing personal identification information of the elderly USA, such as their name, telephone number, age and estimated family income. After they had successfully convinced the victim that their relative had been arrested, they passed the call to other co-conspirators, the “closers”, who posed as lawyers (“Apfff”).
The closers then instructed the victim to buy “conditional release money” or send it to a particular address, usually a free property identified through a real estate website, or provide it with an individual who came to their home posing as a conditional bond. They then informed one of the group leaders, Usman Khalid (AKA “Paul” and “Pauly”), who identified a co-conspirator who could possess as a conditional bond in the US and told them to collect.
All 25 defendants are in the 20s and 30s, operating under nicknames such as “toast” and “Blondie”. Fraud aimed at people in more than 40 countries across the US.
Law enforcement hit the operation on June 4 when they executed search orders in several call centers. When they arrived, they seized the defendants in the act of placing telephone calls for the older victims in Virginia. The truck of one of the leaders of the operation, Ricky Ylimaki (AKA “Ruffles”), was full of cell phones and victims’ lists in numerous countries, the indictment says.
“Individuals working in call centers sometimes moved from one call center to another to improve chemistry between the openings and more and to increase the success of grandfather’s fraud,” the indictment reads. “Members of the plot referred to these re -settings as” switches “.”
If they were not available for money to raise money to raise money at a victim’s home, the organization was sometimes called cars through Ridshare companies, guiding drivers who do not suspect to receive the money and hand them over to one of the fraudsters. They then broadcast money in Canada, obscuring the source of money and identities of the defendants, sometimes using cryptocurrency.
Sometimes, the fraudsters called the elderly victims again and told them they needed more money because the bail had increased. Victims who secured significant amounts of money were referred to as “whales”. Hundreds of pensioners were deceived “by their lives savings by preaching their emotions and deceiving them by thinking that their loved ones were in danger,” says Thomas Demeo, acting a special agent responsible for the Internal Criminal Investigation Service (IRS-CC), Boston Field Office.
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If convicted, suspected managers of the Call Center face 40 years in prison. Officials believe they are Gareth West (AKA “Buddy” and “Muscles”), Usman Khalid (AKA “Paul” and “Pauly”), Andrew Tatto (AKA “Chevy” and “Truck”), Stephan Moskwyn (AKA “HK”), and Ricky Ylimaki (AKA “Ruffles”).
This is not the first time officials have arrested individuals linked to the same operation. Nine others were charged in the past. They were located all over the world, including Miami, New York, Montréal, China and Los Angeles.
Dokush can report cases similar to the telephone line of fraud of the national elder (833-Fraud-11). This telephone line is a free source created by the US Department of Justice, the offices for crime victims, for people to report fraud against anyone aged 60 or older.
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About Emily Forlini
Old -man
