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more details there were 2 people charged and it was from back in 2008


Vernon man and woman charged with vintage-car fraud

Vernon man and woman charged with vintage-car fraud

A Vernon man and woman have been charged with bilking 11 vintage car fans in the U.S. and Sweden out of $400,000 in an international Internet scam, police say.

By The Vancouver Province April 16, 2008 Be the first to post a comment



Staff reporter

A Vernon man and woman have been charged with bilking 11 vintage car fans in the U.S. and Sweden out of $400,000 in an international Internet scam, police say.

"They used Internet auction sites like EBay, Craigslist and an auction site called Hemmings Auto News," said Calgary police

Const. Dean Nichol yesterday. "Examples of cars they were offering included vintage Cadillac Coupe DeVilles, a 1957 Chevy and a 1940 Ford Roadster."

Calgary police worked with police agencies around the globe, including the RCMP, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, the Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Border Services and the Swedish National Police, to crack the case.

The scam artists posted phony pictures of the cars online and "sold" them for an average of $30,000, he said.

"The victims were basically asked to send money by wire transfer from foreign countries into Canada, particularly Calgary," he said. "They would wire the money into these shell companies, which had accounts set up at various banks."

He said the victims would either never see the vehicle or, in one or two cases, the vehicles that were delivered were "completely derelict and the total opposite of anything that was advertised."

The nine-month probe resulted in more than a dozen search warrants being executed for bank, phone and Internet records.

"With Internet crimes, the police are forced to treat it like any other crime scene," said Nichol. "An offender will both leave something and take something away from the scene. Although these offenders did use some sophisticated methods to try to avoid discovery, they left a few key footprints and we also traced them through the money trail."

No money has been recovered.

Police raided two homes in Vernon and one in Kelowna. The probe is continuing to determine the involvement of a third suspect.

Charged with a total of 16 counts of fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000 is Akthem Saadi Yousif, 31, an Iraqi citizen. Charged with one count each of fraud and theft over $5,000 is Allana Nicole Austring, 31, a Canadian citizen. Both will be transferred to Calgary to appear in court.

dinwood@png.canwest.com
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the pair are also involved in some other case in Alberta where it looks like his co accused was seeking indemnity back in 2010 http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...1QprUQ&cad=rja