Your car could be stolen; Timeshare scams: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet

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Did you just buy a used car? There's a chance it's stolen

The fight against Canada's worst-ever auto theft epidemic has largely focused on ramping up inspections at shipping ports, where organized crime groups have exported the overwhelming majority of stolen vehicles.

But criminals are adapting, police say, by increasingly selling hot vehicles in Canada to unsuspecting buyers, exploiting a weakness in provincial registration systems that veteran investigators say needs to be fixed.

While it's impossible to know what criminals do with all stolen cars and difficult to track shifting trends, police now estimate nearly one-third of stolen vehicles are being resold in Canada, marking a significant increase from just six months ago, when the vast majority of vehicles were believed to have been exported.

Buyers often have no idea.

Derek Crocker bought a used Ford F-150 pickup truck from a dealership in Toronto in 2022. Just a few months later, his own investigation revealed the truck's vehicle identification number or VIN had been replaced, now mirroring the VIN of a similar truck registered in Utah.

"The whole reason you buy it from a dealership is so you don't have to worry about dealing with that sort of thing," he said.

After Crocker entered what should have been the truck's unique VIN in Ford's app, the function to remotely start the vehicle never worked. The app also listed the vehicle as being located in the United States and indicated a different amount of fuel than his own vehicle tank was holding.

But it wasn't until his F-150 was in an accident and required body work that the problem with the VIN was revealed. The repair shop ordered parts based on the VIN it saw on the dash. But the parts did not match.

"So I Googled the VIN number that was on my truck, and I found a truck for sale in Utah," said Crocker.

It turns out that was the true VIN, which thieves had cloned, placing fake stickers with the Utah truck's VIN on top of the true number for the truck Crocker bought.

VINs are most prominently displayed on a vehicle's dashboard, as well as on the ownership title. When a vehicle is stolen, the VIN is flagged across North America to prevent it being sold.

But criminals are replacing the VIN plate, often with one from a comparable vehicle that has been totalled, legally exported or is registered in another province or U.S. state. They may go through junkyards, export records or simply walk through a mall parking lot to find a VIN to clone.Read More

That offer to buy your time-share could be from a Mexican drug cartel

When lawyers, real estate agentsand people with cash in hand wanted to purchase Rod Pratt and Diana Paquette's Mexican time-share, it seemed like a godsend to the Edmonton couple.

On their first trip to Mexico, for a 2016 wedding, they had made a snap decision to invest in a beachfront property in Nuevo Vallarta, just north of the resort town Puerto Vallarta.

But nothing was as it appeared. Even after spending $95,000 US on the time-share and three upgrades, there were room charges, maintenance fees, bills for food, drink and airfare meaning a week's vacation still cost $5,000 or more,an amount they couldn't afford.

"Anything you look at and touch, it's got a dollar tag on it," said Pratt, 65. "It's definitely not all-inclusive."

By the spring of 2019, they were desperate to unload the time-share. So when a broker from Atlanta cold-called and said he had a client willing to pay $155,000 US, Pratt pounced. A Mexican real estate agent and buyer joined the conversation, and a contract was signed. All that was required to seal the deal were a few, upfront payments from Pratt.

"They have, like, these fees and stuff they wanted for opening and closing all kinds of little ones," he said. "Anywhere from maybe $1,500 US to $10,000."

The deal fell through, but Pratt's phone kept ringing with other lucrative offers. Over the next three years, Pratt entered two more sales agreements, and accepted a short-term rental offer. All the purported deals followed the same pattern upfront demands for fees, costs and taxes, with the promised payout always a step away. In the end, he estimates he lost more than $200,000 Cdn to the scams.

"They were all saying they were lawyers, they were realtors. They were everything under the sun," said Pratt. "But none of it was legit."

Turns out, it's a recent trend for violent Mexican cartels to turn their attention to time-share scams. While Pratt can't tie his case directly to a particular cartel, there's plenty of red flags suggesting their involvement.Read More

Abusers are using e-transfers to reach their victims, and survivors say banks need to do more to stop it

Emma Parsons was able to block her ex-boyfriend's abusive and unwanted texts and phone calls, but she was shocked when she started receiving small e-transfers with nasty messages attached.

When she and her mother, Carmen, heard how a woman in Sault Ste.Marie, Ont., had received a flurry of abusive and threatening e-transfers before her ex murdered her in October, they decided to speak out.

"People need to know that this happens and that maybe there's things that we can do about it," said Carmen.

Survivors of intimate partner violence say Canada's banks need to step up and do more to protect victims from abuse through their platforms, as some other countries are doing.

In Australia, a data team analyzed 11 million transactions in a three-month period and found more than 8,000 customers who had experienced what the data team called "abusive messages."

Australian banks have since implemented a number of measures to end the misuse of banking platforms by abusers, including introducing AI software that blocks messages containing abusive language and in-app self-reporting tools for survivors to flag abusive messages to banks as soon as they are received.

When CBC reached out to the big five banks, all deferred to the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA).

The CBA issued an email statement saying its members have policies and procedures in place to protect impacted customers from harassment and other forms of abuse.

The CBA also said "banks are continuously exploring ways to combat any form of abuse, including technology-facilitated financial abuse, while managing legal, privacy and operational considerations."

No other specifics were provided despite CBC News's repeated requests for more details and clarity.

Interac also provided an email statement saying using its payment service to facilitate abuse and harassment is against its Terms of Use. The company said it is committed to enhancing its services to help customers but offered few specifics.Read More

What else is going on?

The air passenger complaints backlog has hit a new high, but the Canadian Transportation Agency says it's processing complaints faster
New measures to make the complaint process more efficient took effect in late September.

More than 20 per cent of branded plastic pollution leads back to just four companies
The Coca-Cola Company tops the list at 11 per cent, PepsiCo at second with five per cent, followed by Nestl with three per cent and Danone with two per cent.

What should you really do with all those reusable grocery bags?
Big grocers are trying to tackle our stockpiles, but experts have concerns.

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