Alleged grandparent scammers lived in luxury. Their victims lost their savings and peace of mind

CBC News is investigating grandparent scams and their nexus to Montreal. This communicative is portion two of a three-part series. Read portion 1 here.

In 2020, months aft the satellite unopen down for COVID-19, Madeline, an American elder who had worked arsenic a caregiver each her life, got a telephone telephone from idiosyncratic from Montreal — though she didn't cognize that astatine the time.

It's unclear what the caller told Madeline, but her daughter, Janelle, recalled that it progressive ineligible trouble. After the call, Madeline had a neighbour thrust her to her section bank, wherever she told them she had to retreat thousands of dollars — practically each her savings — to put successful her son's caller business. 

It was a prevarication the idiosyncratic connected the telephone had told her to tell. 

The telephone was a scam — perpetrated, according to constabulary and tribunal documents, by a web of scammers operating retired of Montreal. 

CBC precocious published a story identifying the men suspected of being down the scam. The web that targeted Madeline allegedly called thousands of different seniors betwixt 2019 and March 2021, erstwhile constabulary arrested its alleged members. 

But it is conscionable 1 of respective high-profile grandparent scam networks operating retired of Montreal, according to police, astatine slightest 2 of which bore highly akin characteristics to 1 different and targeted chiefly American seniors. 

Targeting the vulnerable

These scams are ostensibly lucrative for the scammers. For years, the web that allegedly targeted Madeline lived lives of luxury. The alleged person of the group, David Anthony Di Rienzo, owned aggregate cars, including 4 Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce Phantom — a astir $600,000 car, according to a database of projected admissions filed by the Crown that details immoderate of the grounds against him. 

Meanwhile, the scammers allegedly drained the savings of seniors similar Madeline, and, adjacent successful cases wherever the fraud was thwarted, near their victims feeling susceptible and exposed. 

"It was precise scary for her," Janelle said of her mother. 

CBC has agreed to lone usage her and her mother's archetypal names due to the fact that Janelle fears reprisals from speaking retired against a radical of alleged criminals.

Madeline, who was successful her 80s, died astir a twelvemonth aft the scammers targeted her. She was benignant to the end, her girl said. When her wellness deteriorated and she had to unrecorded successful an assisted surviving facility, she would inactive connection up her broad to immoderate visitant who seemed cold. 

But the scammers utilized her kindness against her. Madeline was truthful by quality and, though she had heard of — and adjacent been targeted by — akin scams, she couldn't ideate that idiosyncratic would prevarication to her and effort to bargain from her successful specified a way. 

"She was idiosyncratic who had ever followed the missive of the law," Janelle said. "I deliberation it doesn't ever hap to astir of america to instrumentality vantage of idiosyncratic oregon to prevarication oregon to scam them." 

'You took their bid of mind,' justice says

Though Janelle could not callback the details of the scammers' telephone with her mother, the scammers tended to person a publication that they followed to get wealth retired of their victims. The publication played connected their emotions. 

In the transcript of 1 call, filed successful an Ontario tribunal arsenic portion of a blameworthy plea, Giordano De Luca, a scammer who was portion of a prolific web of grandparent fraud that besides operated retired of Montreal up until past year, told 1 of his victims aggregate times that helium loved her and leveraged her spot to get her to nonstop wealth connected the pretext that it was for bail. 

"I cognize I could spot you; that's wherefore I called you," De Luca told the victim, an 86-year-old who thought she was talking to her grandchild. 

WATCH | Why are truthful galore grandparent scams linked to Montreal? 

In this peculiar instance, unit astatine the slope stopped the fraud, but the summary of the facts of the lawsuit attached to De Luca's blameworthy plea says he, and his accomplices, "emotionally manipulated, abused and intimidated" the 86-year old. 

They employed "urgency and isolation from the victim's family, to leverage her emotion and the interest she had for her grandson's well-being and safety, resulting successful large accent and a perchance important fiscal loss."

The radical De Luca was allegedly portion of collected much than $1 cardinal from unsuspecting seniors successful Canada betwixt 2022 and January 2024. 

But the scams' interaction connected victims widen beyond fiscal loss. 

Jane Magnus-Stinson, an American justice sentencing Darlens Renard, 1 of the men accused of being liable for collecting wealth from victims connected behalf of Di Rienzo's alleged grandparent scam network, enactment it this way: 

"What you each took from these radical was truthful overmuch much than money," she said successful a sentencing hearing, according to tribunal recordings. "You took their bid of mind. For galore of them, you took their status savings and their quality to unrecorded retired their last years successful peace. You besides brought shame to them due to the fact that they were ashamed of having been fooled.

"They were victims, and they shouldn't beryllium ashamed of loving their grandchildren oregon their niece oregon whoever your radical claimed was the unfortunate of this crime. But it has caused a beauteous devastating intelligence harm to them for the extremity of their lives."

Magnus-Stinson sentenced Renard to six and a fractional years successful prison. 

'It breaks my heart'

In the end, arsenic Madeline, the nurse, was sending $28,000 US to the scammers via a courier service, idiosyncratic astatine a sorting centre noticed the ample bundle of currency and raised a reddish flag. 

The scam was thwarted, but she felt embarrassed and angry. She initially asked her daughter, Janelle, not to archer her different children astir the scam. 

A twelvemonth oregon truthful aft the scam, Madeline, who lived unsocial and whose lone income came from a tiny pension and societal information payments, had to determination into an assisted surviving centre and paid for it utilizing the wealth the scammers astir took from her.

"It breaks my bosom to cognize that these things happen," Janelle said," and they hap to radical who are trusting. And it devastates radical erstwhile you spot the amounts of wealth and however this impacts their lives. Even connected an affectional level and intelligence level, this shook her up."

Madeline died successful 2022. Her obituary notes that she was caring and her children and her grandchildren were among the astir cherished things successful her life. 

Janelle said she volition attest successful the lawsuit of the men accused of scamming her parent if she is asked to. They whitethorn spell to proceedings aboriginal this year. 

"Anybody who needed thing — she would help," Janelle said. "I cognize this is what she would want."