“It hurts,” says Stephanie Richards as she says she was scammed out of $1,800 by someone claiming to be selling a car online out of Montreal. Now, she’s sharing her story, warning others not to fall into the same trap. Swidda Rassy reports.
“I was looking on Kijiji for a used car and then there happened to be a ‘98 RAV4 that I was really interested in and the price was very good,” said Richards, who’s from Pembroke, Ont.
Richards contacted CityNews to share her story and warn others not to fall in a similar trap.
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George Iny, the director of the Automobile Protection Association, says when a seller asks for money beforehand, consider that a red flag.
“Don’t send money before you see a vehicle,” Iny recommended. “Don’t provide key money. Those are bad signs. If someone is outside of the country and they claim to be a Canadian, they have an account in Canada. They don’t need a wire transfer.”
Iny says these types of online scams are more common than most people think.
“Kijiji and AutoTrader, they had both been fingered at one point for running a lot of very crummy ads and being a bit slow on the switch, saying they couldn’t do anything about it,” Iny said. “They both promised, and I believe they still maintain the pledge, that when they’re notified now, they remove the ads quickly. They claim they have software that allows them to recognize bad ads. I don’t fully believe it because we still get complaints.”
Kijiji Canada told CityNews they have safeguards in place such as actively monitoring the platform and removing suspicious listings or accounts. Kijiji Canada also pointed to tools that make it easier for users to report suspicious activities, as well as an education and awareness page to help users avoid getting scammed.