Six Sentenced in a Canada-Based Grandparent Scam: Couriers, a "Safehouse" and Crypto Laundering

Here's who ended up in federal prison over it.

What happened?

On July 2, 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that Robert Louis Sanchez, 57, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, became the fifth defendant sentenced in a sweeping "grandparent scam." Sanchez was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release after pleading guilty in April 2024 to wire fraud conspiracy.

How the scheme worked

According to court documents:

• Callers working from Canadian-based call centers convinced seniors that a grandchild or other family member had an emergency, usually a car accident, and urgently needed money.
• Couriers then collected cash from victims at their homes.
• Others laundered the money through regular banks and cryptocurrency exchanges.
• The wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy ran from August 2020 through May 2021.
• Hundreds of victims across the U.S., including in Kentucky, lost over $3 million in total.

Who got what

• Robert Louis Sanchez, 57, a courier who sometimes acted as the "safehouse" guarding cash taken from victims: 1 year and 6 months.
• Jairo Ostia Roberts, 44, who came from Panama to work as a courier: 6 months (March 9, 2023).
• Abel Diaz Adames, 39, also a courier from Panama: 1 year and 4 months (April 4, 2024).
• Christopher Courcoulacos, 46, a Canadian citizen living in Panama and considered a "manager or supervisor": 6 years (November 9, 2023).
• Mark Anthony Phillips, 44, of Ruskin, Florida: 6 years (May 2, 2024), for money laundering.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) investigated, with help from local and federal partners.

Update: the sixth and final defendant

On June 13, 2025, the office announced that Phillipe Gravel-Nadon, 35, a Canadian citizen extradited from Colombia and considered a "manager or supervisor," was sentenced to 5 years and 1 month in prison and ordered to pay $963,290 in restitution.

Here's the thing ...

Look at that list. People flew in from Panama to do pickups. A guy in New Mexico guarded the cash. A guy in Florida moved the money. Managers ran it from abroad.

That's a business. And every role went to prison, from the courier to the launderer. The managers and money movers got the longest sentences.

The phone call is the weapon here. It's fast, it's emotional, and it works on people who love their grandkids. That's why the best defense is boring: slow down and verify.

What to do this week

• Pick a family code word and share it with grandparents.
• Teach the "hang up and call back" rule. Call the grandchild or their parent directly.
• No real emergency needs a stranger picking up cash at your door.
• Banks and crypto exchanges: flag sudden large cash withdrawals by seniors and unusual crypto deposits.