Check With Family

Guide

“Your Grandson Is in Jail” — What to Do in the Next 10 Minutes

Updated July 2026 · Canada

If you just hung up from a call like this, or you're still on it: stop, and do these things in order. You have more time than it feels like you do.

  1. Do not send money, gift cards, crypto, or give card details while on this call.
  2. Hang up, even if they told you not to. A real emergency does not depend on you staying on the line.
  3. Call your grandchild back yourself, on a number you already have saved — not a number the caller gave you.
  4. If you can't reach them, call their parent or another family member to check.
  5. Remember: in Canada, no one can be bailed out of jail with cash, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. If that's the ask, it isn't real bail.

Why this is almost certainly a scam

This exact call — a panicked “grandchild,” an arrest or accident, a request for secrecy, and a payment method like gift cards or cash pickup — is one of the most common frauds targeting seniors in Canada. Increasingly, scammers use AI to clone a real family member's voice from a short clip found on social media, so the voice itself is no longer proof of who's calling. For the full breakdown of how this scam works and how to spot it before it starts, see our guide on the grandparent scam script.

If you already sent money

Contact your bank or the service you sent money through right away, then report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. Acting quickly matters far more than how it happened — see our full guide on what to do if money was already sent.

A pause built in, before the panic starts

Check With Family gives your parent one number to text the moment a call like this happens — no app, no smartphone needed — so a trusted family member gets alerted to check in before any money moves, not after.

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This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.