Summary
Rod Ashby, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Helene, fell victim to a scam after wiring nearly $40,000 for a truck he needed to search for his missing wife, Kim.
The scammer impersonated a legitimate car dealership and created a copycat website to deceive Rod.
The family is struggling to cope with the loss of their home and Kim, who remains missing after the hurricane.
Sympathies for the missing wife, but zero sympathy for getting scammed online.
This can be a good lesson for anyone buying a vehicle. There are 3 items in a sale: the vehicle, the title, and the money. No one person should have all 3 items. Also, do not buy cars from people without the title, or title complications. These type of sales are a risk, and unless you are willing to lose the money, stay away. I always like to do a pre inspection, or have someone I trust do one, as that is a good way to mitigate the risk.
The dude is “desperate to search for his missing wife” but waited for an insurance payout, did shopping online, and was willing to wait for an indeterminate shipping time because he found a good deal on some monster sized pickup that’ll perform terribly offroad all before starting his search? I don’t know if CNN is distorting the situation or this is an accurate accounting but this makes no sense at all.
A rental car agency is always going to be more effective at getting stock to an area than some random online seller.
