A man convicted in a grandparent scam targeting seniors in the Halifax area has been sentenced to 15 months of house arrest and ordered to pay nearly $57,000 in restitution to five victims.

A convicted fraudster who targeted seniors in the Halifax area through a grandparent scam has been sentenced to 15 months of house arrest.

According to CBC News, Omar Zanfi was sentenced on February 6 in Nova Scotia Provincial Court in Halifax after being convicted of offences tied to a scam that preyed on older victims. He was also ordered to pay restitution totalling just under $57,000 to five victims.

Police had previously warned that the scam involved callers posing as relatives in legal trouble who urgently needed money for bail. Another person would then pose as a bail bondsman or legal authority figure and arrange to collect the cash from seniors in person. Halifax police and Nova Scotia RCMP publicly warned about the scheme in 2022, and police later charged Zanfi in connection with multiple fraud and possession of property obtained by crime counts.

Under the sentence, Zanfi will spend the first nine months under an overnight curfew and may only leave home for approved work or a medical emergency. The report also says he was permitted not to remain in Nova Scotia while serving the sentence.

The case is another reminder of how effective grandparent scams can be, especially when fraudsters use urgency, fear, and fake legal consequences to pressure seniors into handing over cash. Police have repeatedly warned that law enforcement and court officials do not attend homes to collect bail money.

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Originally published on Canadian Fraud News.