Three Weeks in the "Grandparent Scam" Just Cost a Canadian Man 33 Months in Federal Prison

That's how long Paul Conneh was involved in the "grandparent scam," according to federal prosecutors. Three weeks in the summer of 2023. Now he's looking at 33 months in federal prison and $256,000 in restitution.

Read that again. Three weeks in 2023. Nearly three years of actual prison time.

So what happened?

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont, part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), announced that on October 6, 2026, Conneh, 39, of Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III.

The sentence:

• 33 months in prison.
• $256,000 in restitution to the victims.

On May 28, 2026, Conneh pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and conspiring to launder monetary instruments in relation to the grandparent scam.

What did he actually do?

According to court records cited in the release, Conneh:

• recruited "bail bondsmen" to travel to the United States,
• laundered the money they took from elderly Americans, and
• distributed the money to co-conspirators.

Conneh participated in the scheme for three weeks in July and August 2023, and prosecutors say approximately 20 elderly Americans were victimized in the process.

Then came the long arm of the law. Conneh was arrested in Costa Rica on January 23, 2025, at the request of the United States, and extradited in December 2025. The release credits Vermont-based agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, plus help from HSI in Panama, Interpol, DOJ's Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica and Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Department in getting him arrested and extradited.

So, no, leaving the country doesn't make this go away. Am I right?

Wait, what's a "grandparent scam"?

The release doesn't walk through the script. But here's the thing ... the name says it all. In the typical version, somebody calls an older person pretending to be a grandchild in trouble, or a lawyer or officer calling on the grandchild's behalf. There's been an accident or an arrest. Money is needed for "bail," right now, and please don't tell anyone.

That's why "bail bondsmen" is in quotes in the release. In this case, according to prosecutors, Conneh recruited the people who traveled to the U.S. and took the money from victims.

It's a phone scam at its heart. A call creates panic. Panic creates payment.

Why should you care?

Look, I know your business isn't faking emergencies to grandmas. I'd hope not, anyway.

But these scams affect every legitimate company that uses the phone. Every scam call that convinces an older person to hand cash to a stranger teaches that person (and their kids) to never answer an unknown number again. That's your customer. That's your lead. That's your answer rate going up in smoke.

And the people who run these operations need tools. Phone numbers. Calling platforms. Caller ID that looks believable. If you provide any of those, you are part of the chain whether you like it or not.

What to do about it

• Know who's using your platform. If you sell calling or numbers, verify customers before they dial, not after the subpoena.
• Flag the patterns. Short, urgent calls to older consumers, talk of bail, arrests or accidents, and requests to keep it secret are red flags. Shut them down.
• Respond to tracebacks fast. When the industry or regulators ask where a call came from, answer quickly and completely.
• Train your people. Your reps should know what elder fraud sounds like, so they can spot it in your own traffic.
• Share the hotline. The National Elder Fraud Hotline (833-FRAUD-11) is a free DOJ resource for reporting fraud against anyone 60 or older. Your customer service team should have it.

I've lit plenty of money on fire in my career. But I've never been in a deal where three weeks of "work" turned into 33 months behind bars. Some deals aren't worth it. This was one of them.

Protect the people on the other end of the line. That's it.

You can read the DOJ press release on the Conneh grandparent scam sentencing or the original release.