A $100 wooden cord, a bargain? Not if you pay in advance and just breathe… Unfortunately, more and more people are falling for the online scammers’ game.
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Last month, Serge Lambert was looking for firewood for his home near Joliette. He needed 10 cords of hardwood. “I saw an ad on Facebook that said hardwood for sale in Saint-Charles-de-Borromée, 10 minutes from my home. It was maple and that was exactly what I was looking for. At $100 per rope I thought it was a good price. »
Serge then contacts the person whose Facebook profile seemed legitimate at first glance to give him his address. That’s when things started to turn sour.
“I then get a message that says, ‘At $100 per rope, that’s $1000.’ You have to pay $500 upon order confirmation and $500 upon delivery. I can get that to you on Thursday.” I then took a closer look at his profile, but there were only a few photos and not much activity. I turned to my friend and told her: “They’re fraudsters…” says this ex-policeman who saw it snowing.
Unscrupulous
Réjeanne Borduas, who has been supplying firewood to Neuville for more than 40 years, was not surprised when Serge Lambert called her the day after his exchange with the fraudster. The latter had used photos of four legitimate businesses on its site, including that of Ms Borduas, Bois de foyer Borduas Rive-Sud. “We even saw our phone number on a truck in one of the photos. I often get calls like that,” she says.
Photo Réjeanne Borduas
Fraud cases have been increasing steadily for three years, she says. “Many of my customers have been caught on Kijiji and Facebook. The person requests an Interac transfer via SMS. You then make a payment and then wait for your delivery. And the day before delivery he tells you that you have to pay the remaining amount. If you pay, you will never hear from him again. »
A plague for the industry
When scammers promise cords of wood for $100, they’re also hurting local businesses trying to stay afloat in an already struggling industry.
“This year the wooden cord is selling for around $125, the same price as last year. And it’s not expensive enough,” complains Mike Fraser, manager at Feu-go in Mascouche. “We have such small profit margins. You have to create a lot of volume to get in and earn a decent salary. We take risks, we invest a lot in machines, and all for very little money. “So when scammers promise ropes for $100, people think that’s the price and that doesn’t do us any good,” he says.
“Run away”
Steve Bossé, the mixed martial arts fighter who was also known as a strongman in the North American Hockey League before starting his company, also sees everything in this industry.
“Several customers came to me and told me that they had been scammed on Kijiji. It hurts me and it hurts the market,” he says.
Photo Steve Bosse
Even when you finally get the promised wood delivered, you have to be careful, he says. “There are some who deliver and oops, there’s a rope missing! It’s easy to fool people when you dump 10 cords of wood in a driveway. When the customer puts it all together, they sometimes notice that one thing is missing. Or finally, we gave you spruce and aspen, but not hardwood…” he warns.
His advice: Make sure you have a bill and pay the taxes, that’s the best way to protect yourself as a consumer. “You have to be able to connect and talk to a person. If the person doesn’t want to talk and only wants to communicate via text, that’s questionable. Run away. »
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