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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, March 7, 2013 | 8 Oakville `mastermind' jailed for `heinous' crimes on seniors by Louie Rosella Metroland Media Mississauga Three men, including an Oakville resident, who used a west Mississauga home as the headquarters for a telephone fraud ring that bilked unsuspecting seniors out of millions of dollars, received jail sentences ranging from three to six years Tuesday in Milton court. Calling the six-month operation a "well-planned, organized and lucrative scheme" fueled by "pure greed," Justice Bruce Durno sentenced three of those accused. Mississauga resident Farid Hamdan, 26, received four and a half years in jail, and Wyatt Trottier, also 26 and of Mississauga, was given three years in jail. Each Mississauga man was also ordered to pay a $43,200 fine. Domenico Piccinini, 42, of Oakville, who was deemed the mastermind of the scam, was sentenced to six years in jail and ordered to pay a $500,000 fine. All three men pleaded guilty earlier this year in front of Durno to participating in a criminal organization with the intent to commit an indictable offence, fraud over $5,000 and money laundering. Court heard the organization was run out of a rental home on Wilmar Crescent in the area of Burnhamthorpe Road and Colonial Drive. It targeted seniors across North America using a technique commonly referred to as the `Emergency Scam' or `Grandson Scam.' Investigators believe the well-scripted scam bilked millions of dollars from unsuspecting seniors from Mississauga, Oakville and as far away as Florida, Texas and North Dakota in the U.S. The Emergency Scam targets seniors, one of our most vulnerable populations, and cruelly plays upon their emotions.... Gary Crowell, former Halton police chief Others wrote to the judge to say they felt "embarrassed" and "vulnerable." One victim described the fraudsters over the phone as "smooth as silk." The more than 100 victims ranged in age from 5095, but most were in their 70s and 80s, court heard. In this scam, court heard, the fraudster calls the senior pretending to be their grandchild and bilks them out of a substantial amount of money by convincing them they are in jail and need to be bailed out. A second person will then talk to the victim claiming to be a lawyer or police officer and give the victim instructions on how much money to send and where the money should be sent. The person pretending to be the grandchild also pleads with the victim not to tell anyone else in the family about what happened fearing they will get in trouble with other family members. The senior is convinced to send the money in a way that cannot be traced. By the time they find out they were not actually talking to their grandchild, the money is gone. Police allege the accused targeted hundreds of se- Halton Regional Police Det.-Const. Beverley Meehan, the officerin-charge of a massive fraud bust targeting seniors, leaves Milton Court Tuesday. She said she was pleased with the sentences handed out. photo courtesy Metroland Media Mississauga A 92-year-old American man wrote to the judge and said he felt "rather stupid" and devastated about what happened. niors in Canada and the United States every day, bilking their victims out of $2,000 to $6,000 each, for a total of $3 million over four months. In court Tuesday, Hamdan apologized for his actions and said it was "the biggest mistake of his life." Former Halton police chief Gary Crowell described this crime as "heinous." "The Emergency Scam targets seniors, one of our most vulnerable populations, and cruelly plays upon their emotions to bilk them out of thousands of dollars," said Crowell. "To compound matters, it is estimated that less than five per cent of victims report this crime to police, because many of them feel embarrassed that they were tricked by these criminals." Investigators say victims were found through obituaries and social media accounts. The operation was run out of two Halton homes, police say. Halton police Supt. Chris Perkins said there were potentially thousands of victims with the organization mostly targeting seniors in the U.S. There were also Canadian victims, police said. "These are professionals," said Perkins. "These people go to work like you and I go to work. They are drawing this information out of the seniors and that's what makes this a particularly despicable type of crime." Perkins said the case was cracked when police recognized a "common denominator" between all the victims, who reported the scam to Halton police during the late summer of 2010. Two others charged in the scam are still before the courts. You Donate. Someone Works. 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