Maria Barette

Brent –

Type of a scam Online Purchase

Saw a listing on autrader.ca for a 2014 Toyota Sienna van at a very low price. I requested the Car Proof and was contacted by e-mail by someone claiming to be Maria Barrette trying to sell her deceased father’s van. The listing was based out of Calgary, but the scammer claimed the van was in Fermont, Quebec. The sale was being handled through an escrow service called Insurexvo Trading Company who would act as the honest broker in handling the sale: the van would be delivered to me and I would have 10 days to inspect it. Once satisfied, the funds would be released to the seller.

I did an internet search for Insurexvo Trading Company and found virtually no trace of it save for a couple chat forums where people were asking about the reputability of this company. The few answers I read were glowingly positive. There wasn’t even a listing for this company on Wikipedia which I thought was odd for a global company that has moved vehicles and boats all over the world since 1997.

Nonetheless, the site looked very professional with a FAQ section.

I registered at the site and was then sent a request to wire transfer the purchase funds to an account in London in order to "avoid federal taxes". This was another red flag since the site mentioned they accept PayPal, credit cards or e-transfers, but now only a wire transfer was accepted.

I did some more research through the Scam Tracker on the ScamPulse.com site and found a number of other reported scams with a nearly identical scenario to the one I was being pitched: a deceased father, the vehicle was in Fermont, Quebec, the name of the company handling the sale was a variation on Insurexvo Trading Company (ITC).

The scammer contacted me after I registered on the site, inquiring if I had received the agreement from ITC, as they had another interested buyer. I responded "Scam Reported".

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