2023-09-18 04:00:00
A $100 cord of wood, a bargain? Not if you pay in advance and all you get is air… Unfortunately, more and more people are falling for the game of online scammers.
• Read also: Will we see another surge in building material prices? ?
• Read also: Good prices and full lumberyards : the forest fires have not yet had any significant effects
• Read also: 12 tips for successful renovations
Last month, Serge Lambert was looking for firewood for his house 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’s what I was looking for. At $100 per rope, I found it to be 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 receive a message which tells me: “At $100 per rope, that’s $1000. You must pay $500 upon order confirmation, and $500 payable upon delivery. I can deliver this to you on Thursday”. That’s when I went to take a closer look at his profile, but there were few photos and not a lot of activity. I turned to my girlfriend and told her: those are scammers…,” says this ex-police officer, who has already seen it snow.
Unscrupulous
Réjeanne Borduas, who has supplied firewood to Neuville for more than 40 years, was not surprised when Serge Lambert called her, the day following his exchange with the fraudster. The latter had used photos of four legitimate businesses on his page, including that of Ms. Borduas, Bois de foyer Borduas Rive-Sud. “In one of the photos, we even saw our telephone number on a truck, I often receive calls like this,” she says.
Photo Réjeanne Borduas
For three years, cases of fraud have been increasing constantly, according to her. “Many of my clients have been caught on Kijiji and Facebook. The person, by text message, requests an Interac transfer. You then make a payment, then you wait for your delivery. And the day before delivery, he tells you that you have to pay the balance. If you pay, you’ll never hear from him once more. »
A plague for the industry
When scammers promise cords of wood for $100, they also hurt local businesses trying to keep their heads above water in an already difficult industry.
“This year, the cord of wood is selling for around $125, the same price as last year. And it’s not expensive enough,” laments Mike Fraser, manager at Feu-go, in Mascouche. “We have such slim profit margins. You have to do a lot of volume to arrive, to make a decent salary. We take risks, we invest a lot in machinery, all that for very little money. So when fraudsters promise ropes for $100, people think that’s the price and that doesn’t help us,” he says.
“Run away”
Steve Bossé, this mixed martial arts fighter, also known as a strongman in the North American Hockey League before launching his business, also sees it all in this industry.
“Several customers came to me and told me they had been scammed on kijiji. It hurts me and it hurts the market,” he says.
Photo Steve Bossé
Even when you finally get the promised wood delivered, you have to be wary, he says. “There are some who are going to deliver and oops, a rope is missing! It’s easy to fool people when you unload 10 cords of wood in a driveway. When the customer strings all this together, that’s when he sometimes realizes that one is missing. Or, finally, we delivered spruce and aspen to you, but no hardwood…” he warns.
His advice: make sure you have an invoice and pay the taxes, it’s the best way to protect yourself as a consumer. “You need to be able to get in touch and talk to a person. If the person doesn’t want to talk and just wants to communicate via text, that’s fishy. Run away. »
Do you have any information to share with us regarding this story?
Write to us at or call us directly at 1 800-63SCOOP.
1695032117
#Beware #fake #firewood #sellers
