Four West Island Residents Ordered Extradited to U.S. in Major Telemarketing Fraud Case

A Quebec Superior Court judge has ordered the extradition of four men from Montreal’s West Island who are wanted in the United States on charges linked to a large-scale telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims and caused more than $1 million in losses.

Justice Alexandre Bien-Aimé issued the decision Thursday morning at the Montreal courthouse, ruling there is sufficient evidence to support the U.S. government’s request to extradite the men to face prosecution. The alleged crimes involve a fraudulent operation that was active from 2013 to 2015 and was reportedly run from a residential address in Pierrefonds.

The four men — Mohamed Eraif, 41, of Pierrefonds; his brother Ahmad Eraif of Dollard-des-Ormeaux; Jonathan Massouras of Dollard-des-Ormeaux; and Kevin Gampel, 30, also of Dollard-des-Ormeaux — are all currently in custody. Massouras, already detained on separate allegations, was not present in court, while the other three were taken into custody immediately after the ruling. They have 30 days to appeal the extradition order.

According to U.S. authorities, the scheme involved contacting elderly individuals across the United States and falsely claiming they owed money for magazine subscriptions. Callers used names of legitimate-sounding companies to pressure victims into making payments for debts they did not owe. In many cases, the fraudsters would repeatedly contact victims even after payments were made, demanding additional sums under new pretexts.

The operation was brought to light in 2015 when the RCMP searched the Pierrefonds address and uncovered extensive evidence, including 2,600 pages of so-called “lead sheets” — documents listing names, contact details, and sensitive financial information of thousands of potential victims in the U.S.

Evidence presented in court linked Ahmad Eraif to a leadership role in the operation. Payment processing records indicated that significant sums — including over $250,000 — were transferred to bank accounts in his name and in the name of his wife. Communications between Eraif and a U.S.-based payment processor, through Skype and email, further supported allegations of his direct involvement in overseeing daily operations.

Investigators traced multiple victim payments, including one instance in which a woman paid over $20,000 after receiving persistent calls from the fraudsters. Documents found at the scene of the search confirmed that victims’ personal information was actively used and circulated among telemarketing agents working from the West Island location.

This extradition case is not the first time one of the accused has faced serious legal trouble. Massouras was named in a separate, unrelated extradition request earlier this year tied to a different scheme also involving elderly victims. He was additionally arrested in 2024 following an investigation into alleged ketamine smuggling, during which his home was searched by authorities.

The four men now await further proceedings as the U.S. seeks to prosecute them on multiple fraud-related charges, while local authorities continue to investigate possible links to other criminal activities.