Two arrests made in grandparent scams in Regina area

Regina police have charged two suspects in emergency scams targeting seniors, with six cases confirmed so far. Mick Favel has more.

The Regina Police Service (RPS) arrested two people who are allegedly linked to a country-wide phone call scam targeting seniors.

Fifty-year-old Ciprian Teodor and 40-year-old Alexandra Condurache of Quebec have been jointly charged with five counts of fraud.

According to RCMP, there are five confirmed victims in Regina and one in the White Butte area.

RPS, Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) and RCMP all had a hand in investigating and making the arrests.

“[SPS] were able to obtain a possible suspect photo, and we continued our investigation here and ended up finding that same individual,” said Sgt. David Krieger from RPS.

“[We] were able to determine that they were responsible for picking up cash from a number of victims,” he concluded.

Grandparent scams are fraudulent calls made where the caller describes a false emergency involving a loved one to an unsuspecting victim. Funds are demanded immediately to fix the situation.

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Arrangements are then made to pick up money from the victim.

“These types of crimes cross borders and jurisdictions, whether it be international or provincial,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Shortland, from the RCMP.

“It is crucial for the police to be working together to identify victims and suspects and be able to successfully conclude those files,” he added.

Police say there has been over $70,000 defrauded in Saskatchewan, with approximately $20,000 recovered so far.

It is possible there may be more grandparent scams unaccounted for and police encourage people to come forward.

“A lot of times victims do feel traumatized. They feel shamed. That is one of the challenges we have as police to report,” Shortland said.

“If we don’t know it’s going on, we can’t investigate,” he added.

Police said to educate family members on the reality of phone scams, and to be aware of anyone asking for personal and payment information.

Police also said any funds sent out are hard to recover in phone scams and to be aware before sending anything out.