Officer in Canada's famed Snowbirds 431 Squadron target of international identity theft (National Defense photo)
International scam artists posing as an officer in the Canadian Snowbird regiment have been posting used car ads on AutoTrader.ca. Identifying the officer by name and rank but incorrectly by unit, the cars are offered at bargain basement prices to be shipped from outside the country. As always, if a deal is looks too good to be true, caveat emptor “let the buyer beware”.
This scam only one of the many scams that can trap the unwary buyer on Autotrader.ca. Buyer beware – scams on AutoTrader
In response to an ad for a 2005 Toyota Camry at a bargain price, we received an email from a person claiming to be an officer in the Canadian Air Force.
“I’m a Canadian Air Force Sgt. currently stationed in the United Kingdom,” said the seller in his email.
That set off alarm bells. We searched the officer’s name (which we will not publicize for obvious reasons) using Google. The officer in the email was indeed listed in the Canadian Snowbirds, 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, stationed in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Toyota Camry 2005 for sale from England by Canadian Snowbirds office
However, he was not stationed in England and was not selling a car. Carefully looking at all the car pictures I could deduce the car had been photographed in a Canadian upscale, Anglophone suburb but again not England.
Major Greg Nelson, Deputy Commanding Officer of the famed Snowbirds 431 Squadron confirmed the squadron is aware of the scam. “This indeed is a scam and we are investigating,” he wrote in an email. “It would be appreciated if you could also send the email you received and we will include with others that we have gathered.” To be clear, Nelson is not the officer whose identity has been stolen.
“If anyone trying to sell a vehicle using a military designation, i.e. rank like Major or Sgt, should be considered suspect, especially if from an overseas address, if indeed the person is from there.” added Major Nelson.
Internet scams will usually entice the buyer to send money with some flimsy guarantees of delivery and satisfaction. Once the money is wired to the thief, the money car and seller are never heard from again. Nelson confirmed their belief the scam artist is operating inside Canada.
Here is the cleverly worded, guarantee of satisfaction:
I will have the car shipped from UK by an Air Force cargo plane so there won’t be any additional shipping costs. Also I will arrange for a truck to transport the car to your home address or, if you like, you can pick it up from the nearest airport in your area. The shipping will take 6-8 days, depending on your location.Shipping will be door to door,to your home address,somebody must be home when the car arrives to sign for the reception.The car will arrive with all the papers and documents required for registration and the keys. The clear title and the bill of sale will be already signed by me.
The payment will be done through eBay.You will send the money to eBay and as soon as the payment is confirmed they will notify me to proceed with the shipping. I will ship the car, you will receive it and you will have 5 days for inspection, both the car and the paperwork and the option to accept or reject the car.The inspection time period will begin as soon as you sign for receiving the car at your requested address.During all this time eBay will hold the money into a trust account.So, this is not a blind transaction,you can see the car before decided to buy it.If you are satisfied with the car and decide to keep it you inform eBay about this and they will release the money to me. If the car is not as advertised and decide not to keep it eBay will refund you the money, no questions asked, and shipping back the car will be my concern. I think this is more than fair for the both of us.Please take in to consideration that I will get paid only after you receive the car and make sure everything is as agreed.
If you agree with these terms and you have the money, send me your full name and the address where you want the car to be delivered to and I will initiate the transaction with eBay. You will receive all the transaction details from them.
Police are investigating although we cannot confirm if they have a suspect. The same scam has been used on other popular used car models.
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