How Rogue Movers Will Rip You Off, and What the Law Has to Say About It
Overview of Moving Scams
What is a moving scam? They come in many different forms, and varying levels of sophistication. All versions of a moving scam have these things in common: the mover takes your stuff, holds it for ransom, and charges you an inflated price. If you refuse to pay, they threaten never to deliver your items. All of your sports memorabilia! Your collection of baby photos! Your wheelchair! The dining room table that’s been in your family for over 50 years! All gone if you don’t pay the scammer.
Local Moves
Some scams are for local moves, where the scammer will agree to charge you a fixed rate to move all of your belongings across town for a flat rate, or an hourly rate. You may find their services on Kijiji or Craigslist, or another online marketplace offering cheap moves. Let’s say your quote is $800.00 for the move. The company will have you follow their moving truck as it carries your goods across town, until they make an unexpected stop. They may pull up at a gas station, and so you follow suit and park with them. The scammer will demand that you instead pay $3,200.00, and if you don’t, they will dump your stuff right there, at the gas station. This is completely predatory, and for the moving scammer, it is fast and easy cash.
This example is similar to the fraud pulled by Dashen Smith in July of 2022. Dashen was convicted for three offences under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (CPA). This was the first time a moving scammer was convicted under this legislation. It is surprising to me that it has taken this long, moving scams existed long before the CPA came into force. I fault our government and law enforcement for letting these laws collect dust on the books, when more charges can and should be laid.
Long Distance Moves
Other scams are for long-distance moves, usually, it is from city to city, across county, or internationally. Companies that operate moving scams for long-distance moves tend to have a company name, website, and hundreds or thousands of positive Google reviews. Many people fail to avoid companies like this by overlooking or failing to filter the Google reviews by the lowest stars. It is often that a fraudulent moving company will have a good star rating on Google reviews, by creating fake reviews, and burying the negative one-star reviews. If you look at the one-star reviews, you will often see the same story over and over again – the customer was overcharged and many of their belongings were missing or damaged beyond repair.
Moving fraudsters who do long distance moves will often entice their victims with a charming salesperson. They will often give their victim a quote based on a verbal conversation over the phone. In some cases, the scammer may have the victim fill out an excel spreadsheet to create an inventory. Whether it is a verbal quote or an excel spreadsheet, the quote provided is not reliable.
A legitimate moving company will always require either an in-person walkthrough or a virtual walkthrough of the customer’s home so that they can visually see what needs to be moved and provide an accurate quote for the move. A scammer does not care if their quote is accurate, they only care that the quote is believable enough that you choose to hire them and entrust them with all your worldly possessions.
Once the moving scammer picks up all of your belongings, they will jack up the price by anywhere from 50% to 1000%. This leaves their victims helpless. Many victims go to the police seeking help, but rarely are the police helpful. While recently there have been some operations conducted against moving companies, a victim of a moving scam usually is told that the fraud perpetrated against them is a “civil matter” and that the police cannot do anything. This is false, and the police can and should do something.
What Can a Victim Do?
Nonetheless, short of police intervention, a victim of a moving scam is faced with two options, 1) pay the ransom and hope their stuff arrives intact, or 2) take legal action. Of course, it is possible for a victim to pay the ransom, and take legal action afterwards, this may not always be possible depending on how much the scammer is demanding in payment.
If a moving victim chooses to take legal action, it is possible to seek a court order for the return of their property. I have acted on many cases like this, including two reported cases where orders for return of property were successfully obtained: Gignac v. Move Me Again Transportation Inc, 2021 ONSC 3374 (CanLII), and Dhillon v. Move Me Again Transportation Inc., 2021 ONSC 5042 (CanLII).
Moving Scams in the Media
It is no secret that hiring a moving company is a risk, it has been all over the news for decades. Since 2015, CBC Marketplace has shot four episodes featuring moving scams. Find all of them here:
- Moving company scams: What you need to know. (CBC Marketplace)
- Moving company nightmares: What you need to know before you move (CBC Marketplace)
- Secret trackers and hidden cameras show how movers could rip people off (Marketplace)
- Busting movers: Inside the police raid (Marketplace)
With all of the media attention to this issue, we would expect to see our government doing more to protect Canadians, but for now, it seems that there has been no answer to the plight of moving scam victims.
Conclusion
If you or a loved one find yourself caught in the middle of a moving scam, there is help for you. We are experienced in taking dishonest moving companies to court and obtaining orders and judgements against them. If you reach out to us and your matter is urgent, do tell us and we will do our best to provide timely guidance and advice.
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