Falsely advertised cars with ‘extensive’ damage result in charges for pair from north of Pickering

A man and a woman from Uxbridge face fraud charges after allegedly falsely advertising used cars by hiding damage and lowering odometers.

Toronto Police allege the pair used aliases to post cars for sale on Facebook Marketplace. They allegedly falsely claimed the cars had lower kilometres than they actually did and were newer than they actually were. Some of these cars, police charge, were pulled from salvage.

Unsuspecting victims met up wit the pair to buy the cars and test-drove them at various places in the GTA. However, once they bought the car and took it in for registration, they learned “odometers were tampered with, the ownerships altered, and/or the vehicle required extensive repairs,” police explained.

“This type of fraud is known as Curbsiding,” Toronto Police continued, “Curbsiding is someone who misrepresents themselves in a private sale of an automobile, concealing information about a vehicle to a buyer, such as odometer tampering, stolen vehicle status, undisclosed accident history, and mechanical defects.”

“Prior to purchasing a vehicle, the seller is legally required to provide a UVIP (used vehicle information package) from the Ministry of Transportation,” they concluded, “The package will contain a description of the vehicle and its Ontario history. Buyers should also have a licensed mechanic inspect vehicles prior to purchase.”

Benn Taylor Raddysh, 21, and Alexandra Mekhdi-Gamsari, 19, are both charged with a count each of fraud over $5,000.

Police believe there are possibly more victims and asked them to come forward Anyone with information can call police at 416-808-1100 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).