Durham Police investigators are looking to identify a male suspect who defrauded an elderly resident of Pickering.
On September 24, members of West Division responded to a call for a fraud where the suspect pretended to be the victims grandson and defrauded money from her. The suspect contacted the 77-year-old female claiming to be her grandson and told her that he was in jail. The suspect then placed another male on the phone claiming to be a court representative who needed $9,000 in Canadian currency in order to get bail for her grandson. The victim attended her bank, withdrew money and met the suspect to make payment, said a police statement.
The suspect is described as male, South Asian, 20-30s, medium build, black hair, brown eyes, wearing all black clothing and an Adidas face mask.
There have been five incidents involving the grandparent scam reported within the last three weeks. In another case reported on September 16, in Ajax, the elderly female victim was defrauded of $27,000 which involved the same type of scam.
Anyone with new information about this investigation is asked to contact Det. McKinnon of the West Division Criminal Investigations Bureau at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 2529.