B.C. police warn against becoming a ‘money mule’ in luxury car scam

An RCMP epaulette is seen in Edmonton, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Mounties in Richmond, B.C., have issued a warning about what they describe as “alleged fraudulent sales of vehicles.”

According to police, victims of the scam are usually lured into a “money making opportunity” involving buying and exporting luxury vehicles.

The victim buys the car with third-party financing, registers it in their name, and then stores the vehicle at a secondary location, police said. After that, scammers will tell the victim the vehicle was stolen and they should report it to ICBC.

The Richmond RCMP says investigators believe suspects are changing the vehicle identification numbers to conceal their stolen status in order to sell them locally or ship them overseas.

“These victims are unwittingly participating in a criminal offence as a form of money mule,” Cpl. Ryan Lee said, in a news release Friday. “A money mule is someone who transfers illegally obtained money on behalf of criminals, however, in the case of these investigations it’s vehicles being used instead of money.”

Police cautioned against registering vehicles for other parties and urged anyone with information about the scheme to call their local authorities.