In April, the FBI warned that scammers were using advanced voice duplication techniques to carry out grandparent fraud.
A woman in Montreal recently committed grandparent fraud herself. A Kirkland resident has been accused of being a victim and wants to let other parents and grandparents know something.
"The voice on the other end of the phone wasn't someone trying to sound like my son. It was my son's voice. I'm 100% sure."
Longueuil police announced last week that they had arrested Ronnie Shubat ( 37) on suspicion of grandparent fraud. In a statement, they said a man pretended to be the victim's grandson and made the call. He claimed he needed $4,000 to post bail after a car accident involving driving disability.The scammer also said someone would come to the victim's home to retrieve the money.
A Montreal woman said she fell victim to the same scam last week, except that the person on the phone she called pretended to be her son. Her caller told her that he was involved in a head-on collision and that the other car occupant was an injured pregnant woman. She was also instructed to hand over $4,000 to a man who claimed the caller was a lawyer. When a bearded man disguised as a lawyer showed up at her house, she gave him $4,000. I realized that I was caught.
She filed a complaint with the Montreal police and was sent a copy of an article about her Chbat's arrest in the Longueuil case last weekend by a friend of hers. The woman said that when she saw Chbat's mugshot, she realized it was the man who took her $4,000 from her.
"It was him, definitely." said the woman, adding that she had contacted the Montreal police. She updates her complaint and says she recognizes Chbat from her photo.
She also said she was impressed that some media outlets, including the Montreal Gazette, wrote that scammers were "pretending" to be the children or grandchildren of their targets. She said that in her case it was not accurate and that she was sure the caller had managed to duplicate the sound of her son's voice.
It was his voice," she said. "I suspected nothing. (What the caller said) seemed logical and affected my emotions."
"For me, he had to know my son or know me to know the details he did. I totally fell for it."
In April, the FBI warned that fraudsters seeking to carry out grandparent fraud were using advanced voice duplication technology, they said. It uses a sophisticated program used on lost cancer and ALS patients, the same program is used to change the voices of actors in Hollywood movies, according to the FBI.
In March, a couple told the Regina Leader-Post that they were informed that someone was being scammed, possibly using voice duplication technology.
A Montreal woman said she had no idea how the scammers who called her had duplicated her son's voice.
"My goal here is to It was my son's voice that I heard, even after I filed a complaint I'm sure it was my son's voice, it was perfect. The woman said:
"It doesn't make sense for anyone in Kirkland to think that they can (reportedly) do this with a computer." 88} The caller also said he had been arrested and was unable to be reached via his mobile phone because the police had seized it as part of an investigation. So the woman didn't try to call her son back, she said. When she called, her real-life son said all was well and he had not been arrested or involved in a car accident.
" He said, 'No, Mom, it wasn't an accident because you didn't call me yesterday,'" she said. "It was too good. (Caller) deserves an award. People need to understand, it was the same damn voice."
One of the more frustrating things about being scammed was knowing how grandparent fraud works, the woman said.
"I remember watching a story about a South Shore woman who fell for the grandparent scam. I judged her and said, 'How did you not realize it wasn't your grandson?' ``I never thought it would happen to me.''
pcherry@postmedia.com
-
Indicted for Fraud of Nishijima Grandparents
-
The Reginas said it was a possible AI voice scam that cost them nearly $9,400
Sign up for daily headline news from The Montreal Gazette, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
Thank you for registering.
Sending welcome email. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder.
The next issue of the Montreal Gazette Headline News will arrive in your inbox shortly.
