How low can you go especially on Remembrance Day
11-Nov-2008, 07:29 PM
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How low can you go especially on Remembrance Day
Phoney online ad uses dead soldier's name and photo to lure buyers
Source: The Canadian Press
Posted: 11/10/08 7:02PM
Filed Under: Canada
SASKATOON - The mother of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan says a phoney online used car ad that uses her son's name and photo has been posted around the globe.
The ad on the free classified website Craigslist purported to be written by the father of Sgt. Prescott Shipway, saying he wanted his son's beloved 2006 BMW to go to a good home for incidental transportation costs of $4,000.
Susan Shipway said she and her husband were alerted to the scam when they got a bizarre phone call from a stranger in the United States a couple weeks after their son was killed.
The American said she had seen the ad and wanted to buy the car for her daughter.
The ad even included a military photo of Shipway and details of how he was killed by a roadside bomb on Sept. 7.
But there were a couple of problems with the ad. First, it identified her husband as Rick Shipway when his name is actually Charles, and second, her son never owned a BMW.
"Everybody in their right mind would know it's a scam. It's about an $80,000 car," Susan said Monday in a phone interview from her home in Churchbridge, Sask.
Over the next few weeks, Susan said her husband kept busy searching the Internet. He surprisingly found the same phoney ad posted around the globe, targeting car buyers in the United States, France and Mexico.
Similar ads for different models of cars, still using Shipway's photo but the name Sgt. Anderson Shipway Bruce, were also found on the Kijiji website.
Susan said each time her husband found the ad, he sent websites an e-mail flagging it as a fraud.
A search Monday showed most of the ads had been removed.
The family has filed a complaint with the RCMP, said Susan, but they were basically told nothing can be done.
"They say it's out of country," said Susan.
"We would like to find him ourselves. I mean my son's only been dead two months.
"You wonder why people would do such a thing."
Susan said the American who first called and tipped them off to the scam had been instructed to wire the $4,000 to a post office box in Montreal.
The American became suspicious when she looked up news reports on Shipway's death and found out his father's name was Charles, not Rick.
Susan said the RCMP told her the Montreal address is likely a drop-off point and the culprit is actually from outside Canada.
The RCMP were not available to comment on the case Monday.
Shipway, 36, was the 97th Canadian soldier to die on the Afghanistan mission.
He grew up in Saskatchewan after emigrating with his family from Britain, but was stationed at CFB Shilo in Manitoba with 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
An avid Saskatchewan Roughriders fan, he was called "Papa Shipway" by fellow soldiers because he looked after his platoon much the same way he cared for his two young children.
Source: The Canadian Press
Posted: 11/10/08 7:02PM
Filed Under: Canada
SASKATOON - The mother of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan says a phoney online used car ad that uses her son's name and photo has been posted around the globe.
The ad on the free classified website Craigslist purported to be written by the father of Sgt. Prescott Shipway, saying he wanted his son's beloved 2006 BMW to go to a good home for incidental transportation costs of $4,000.
Susan Shipway said she and her husband were alerted to the scam when they got a bizarre phone call from a stranger in the United States a couple weeks after their son was killed.
The American said she had seen the ad and wanted to buy the car for her daughter.
The ad even included a military photo of Shipway and details of how he was killed by a roadside bomb on Sept. 7.
But there were a couple of problems with the ad. First, it identified her husband as Rick Shipway when his name is actually Charles, and second, her son never owned a BMW.
"Everybody in their right mind would know it's a scam. It's about an $80,000 car," Susan said Monday in a phone interview from her home in Churchbridge, Sask.
Over the next few weeks, Susan said her husband kept busy searching the Internet. He surprisingly found the same phoney ad posted around the globe, targeting car buyers in the United States, France and Mexico.
Similar ads for different models of cars, still using Shipway's photo but the name Sgt. Anderson Shipway Bruce, were also found on the Kijiji website.
Susan said each time her husband found the ad, he sent websites an e-mail flagging it as a fraud.
A search Monday showed most of the ads had been removed.
The family has filed a complaint with the RCMP, said Susan, but they were basically told nothing can be done.
"They say it's out of country," said Susan.
"We would like to find him ourselves. I mean my son's only been dead two months.
"You wonder why people would do such a thing."
Susan said the American who first called and tipped them off to the scam had been instructed to wire the $4,000 to a post office box in Montreal.
The American became suspicious when she looked up news reports on Shipway's death and found out his father's name was Charles, not Rick.
Susan said the RCMP told her the Montreal address is likely a drop-off point and the culprit is actually from outside Canada.
The RCMP were not available to comment on the case Monday.
Shipway, 36, was the 97th Canadian soldier to die on the Afghanistan mission.
He grew up in Saskatchewan after emigrating with his family from Britain, but was stationed at CFB Shilo in Manitoba with 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
An avid Saskatchewan Roughriders fan, he was called "Papa Shipway" by fellow soldiers because he looked after his platoon much the same way he cared for his two young children.
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