Four arrested in connection with fraud ring targeting the elderly

Montreal police arrested four Thursday as suspects in an alleged fraud ring that targeted elderly people in western Montreal.

The police said in a release on Friday the four people are suspects in “hundreds” of fraud cases in Lasalle, Verdun and the Sud-ouest borough. Besides the arrests, Montreal police executed a search warrant at a condo on René-lévesque Blvd. W.

Twin 20-year-old brothers Carlrené and Carl-henri Moody and Jonathan Gresseau, 30, were charged with fraud at the Montreal courthouse on Thursday. The fourth suspect was released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

The Crown did not object to Carl-henri Moody's release, but his brother and Gresseau were ordered to be detained for bail hearings. According to court records, Gresseau and Carl-rené Moody were charged earlier this year as suspects in a break-in carried out in St-jean-sur-richelieu.

Gresseau has a lengthy criminal record that includes at least three cases at the Longueuil courthouse where he was convicted in 2019 of several counts of fraud. He was sentenced to a 60-day prison term that he was able to serve on weekends.

The arrests made Thursday were part of an investigation into how elderly people received calls where fraudsters posed as employees of financial institutions.

“Their scheme consists first of all of phoning a vulnerable senior and making them believe there has been a fraudulent transaction on their bank card. Using an insistent tone, the false representative tells the victim that it is urgent to act to correct the situation and asks them to provide their personal identification number (PIN),” the Montreal police said in the release. “The fraudster then tells the victim to insert their bank card inside an envelope and that a postman will pick up the envelope to bring it back to the financial institution. A uniformed accomplice then takes over and quickly shows up at the victim's residence to retrieve the envelope and leave.”

In June, the police arrested eight people following a similar investigation where more than 110 victims were targeted in Anjou, Montreal North and St-léonard.

Police offer the following tips to avoid being a victim of fraudsters:

Never trust what is written on your phone's display, because fraudsters use applications that allow them to display the names of financial institutions.

Never give personal information over the phone.

Remember that financial institutions never ask their customers to hand over bank cards or reveal their PIN.

Tell the person calling you that you will call them back. In 99 per cent of cases, fraudsters will hang up because they do not want to give a number to reach them. Never give in to pressure. Always consult a member of your family or a close friend to validate the information received.

If in doubt, do not hesitate to consult your financial institution — in person or using an official number — or your neighbourhood police station.