Thirteen citizens of the Dominican Republic have accused 400 grandparents of the US of fraud, out of the $5 million.
Leah Foley, a US lawyer for the Massachusetts area, said grandparents in Massachusetts, California, New York, New York, Florida and Maryland received calls from people saying they were grandchildren, had been arrested or were in the midst of another emergency.
Their goal said they were tricking older people into handing over their life savings to help their loved ones. Often, Foley said the defendant called the panicked victim “against and over,” and pretended to be another emergency to boost more money.
“These frauds are not only financially devastating, they are emotionally hurtful,” Foley said at a news conference in Boston on Tuesday. “Many victims have not only lost their savings, but they have lost their sense of security, judgment and trust in the world around them.”
Prosecutors said the defendants run sophisticated criminal enterprises from organized call centres in the Dominican Republic. They hired people who spoke English to posing as grandchildren, lawyers and others in the United States to collect cash from the victims’ homes, Foley said.
The average age of the victims was 84 years old, with at least 50 people in Massachusetts, she said.
In some cases, the con man knew the grandson’s name, Foley said. In other cases, the prosecutor said they followed a vague script and identified themselves as “your oldest grandson.”
The defendants are all citizens of the Dominican Republic. Nine people are in custody, but four — still large from New York, New Jersey and Florida, prosecutors said.
Most of them face conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud charges that can be punished in prisons for up to 20 years, and money laundering conspiracy charges that can be punished in prisons for up to 20 years.
Scam schemes are not uncommon. In March, authorities charged 25 Canadian suspects hiding US seniors from $21 million in similar grandparent fraud.
Ted Dock, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Office, said overseas criminals are “doing this at an epidemic level.”
“What the accused did in targeting our seniors was calm, cruel and calculated,” he said. “Grandparents don’t have to wonder if the next call they get is a cry for help or a trap.”
