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These scams against seniors are especially insidious, Browne reports, because victims can often be haunted, literally, for the rest of their lives by the personalized exploitation and betrayal.
“A lot of the threats have become social engineering threats,” Macaulee Cassaday told The Walrus. Cassaday co-founded Cyber-Seniors, a Canadian nonprofit giving seniors free tech support and digital training.
By social engineering threats, Cassaday means that these scams rely on exploiting people’s psychology rather than catching them with technology alone. At a time when even cons are increasingly impersonal and low effort, grandparent scams often feature multiple impersonators and are much more targeted and tailored than a mass-emailed phishing link.
But that doesn’t mean they’re low tech. They rely on data mining to assemble victims’ relatives’ numbers, life details, schools, and names—even nicknames. The voice on the line may have been created by training AI on the real grandchild’s social media posts or voicemail message.
Scammers often direct victims to cryptocurrency ATMs, though plenty are happy with straight cash and often have a fake bondsman, courier, or police officer pick it up.
These scams have generated their own spinoff industry; Facebook posts about being swindled quickly attract “recovery scams” offering to help get the money back. The daughter of one scammed senior found her post so inundated that when Browne contacted her for the story, she feared it was another trick.
Have you, or someone you know, been targeted by scammers? Reply to this email to tell us more about the types of scams Canadians are facing.
There are counter-scammers, too, such as a YouTube star who tricks and hacks scam operations and often sets up To Catch a Predator–esque on-camera stings.
Some operations are sprawling criminal enterprises. Last year, 23 people were arrested at a network of Montreal-area call centres where they allegedly swindled $21 million from American seniors.
Typically, the only person who ends up looking the victim in the eye in person is the money collector. One faux bondsman was caught on a plane in 2023. He had $16,050 in a sock in his carry-on and nearly as much in a wallet and envelope.
A former university football star, he was broke and often living in his car and visiting food banks when he found what seemed like an easy gig picking up cash.
He had no parents to turn to; a civil war took them when he was a baby, and he was raised by the grandparents who fled with him to Canada.
After his arrest, it was their number he called. Their grandson was in jail. He was in trouble. And he needed bail.
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