25 Canadians charged in multi-million dollar grandparent scam

All but two of the defendants were arrested on March 4

25 Canadians from Ontario and Quebec were charged in connection to a multi-million dollar scam that allegedly defrauded elderly people in the U.S.

Of the 25 individuals, Canadian law enforcement provisionally arrested 23 on March 4, 2025, following an indictment by a federal grand jury in Vermont. One man from Burlington, Ontario and one from Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Québec, remain at large.

Authorities alleged that the Burlington man, Gareth West, managed call centres involved in the ‘grandparent scam’ alongside Usman Khalid, Andrew Tatto, Stephan Moskwyn, and Ricky Ylimaki. The five were charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and face up to 40 years in prison, while the remaining defendants face up to 20 years if convicted.

The scam reportedly defrauded elderly people across 40 states of over US$21 million (about C$30 million). The group allegedly scammed U.S. seniors by pretending to be their loved ones who were in trouble and needed money.

The indictment alleges that between the summer of 2021 and 2024, the defendants engaged in a “grandparent scam involving phone calls made from call centers in and around Montreal, Québec. During these phone calls, defendants falsely claimed to be an elderly victim’s relative, typically a grandchild, who had been arrested following a car crash and needed money for ‘bail.’ Other defendants posed as an ‘attorney’ representing the elderly victim’s relative.”

When Canadian law enforcement executed search warrants on June 4, 2024, at several of the call centres, they allegedly caught several of the defendants in the act of making calls.

The allegations have yet to be proven in a court of law.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s Office

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