The cellphones were advertised on Kijiji as brand new, boxed, Samsung S6 cellphones. The buyers met the seller in various public locations in Edmonton and purchased the cellphones for between $450 and $600, paying cash each time. The complainants discovered after purchase that the cellphones were not Samsung S6 phones, but counterfeits that did not function properly.
A Constable in Southwest Division investigated the complaints and found that dozens of these counterfeit cellphones had been advertised for sale on Kijiji in Edmonton within a four-week period. After a two-week investigation, a suspect was arrested and charged with fraud.
Investigations also revealed that the counterfeit cellphones were purchased online from overseas.
An 18-year-old male was charged with two counts of fraud under $5,000.
“If a deal is too good to be true, it most likely is,” says Const. Tyrone O’Dea of Southwest Division, who investigated the frauds. “A buyer should ask a lot of questions about the product, and ask the seller to produce a sales receipt.”