{"id":385831,"date":"2026-01-03T15:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385831\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:36:18","slug":"alberta-business-thwarts-attempt-to-buy-snowmobile-with-forged-i-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/385831\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta business thwarts attempt to buy snowmobile with forged I.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Using stolen or forged identification to make big ticket purchases isn\u2019t a new scam, but it appears to work often enough to keep businesses on their toes and investigators busy.<\/p>\n

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Colten Kimmy, the general manager at Wetaskiwin Motorsports in central Alberta, said he\u2019s noticed an uptick in I.D. fraud at his business.<\/p>\n

Just days before Christmas, the business managed to stop a would-be fraudster in his tracks.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 19, Kimmy received a phone call from a man who said he said was looking to buy a high-end Ski-Doo snowmobile but was unable to come to the central Alberta store to make the purchase in-person.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy was claiming he was living here for the past five years, working for a company in Edmonton, and just had an Ontario I.D. still,\u201d Kimmy said.<\/p>\n

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Kimmy says they received photos of the man\u2019s identification and proof of employment.<\/p>\n

Those raised some red flags.<\/p>\n

Upon closer inspection, Kimmy said there were discrepancies between the documents and they appeared to be forged.<\/p>\n

When a financing request was submitted, one lender thought the applicant could be fraudulent, but another lender approved the application automatically.<\/p>\n

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Kimmy then contacted the RCMP, but because the man was not physically present, police weren\u2019t able to confirm if this was fraud or not.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

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For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

Later that day, the man did successfully make a purchase from a different business north of Edmonton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t 100 per cent certain he was a fraudster. But we\u2019re getting there. And we\u2019re like, maybe if we can get him in-person, we can verify if he\u2019s an actual real person, or if he\u2019s a fraudster,\u201d Kimmy said.<\/p>\n

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So, Wetaskiwin Motorsports asked the suspect to come to the store. The man accepted, and showed up late in the day on Saturday, Dec. 20.<\/p>\n

Kimmy and his colleague engaged the man in conversation, and when they determined that he was likely fraudulent, called RCMP again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough that really sharp investigation by the employee, and setting up the time, he was able to facilitate the RCMP being at the business at that exact time,\u201d said Cpl. Troy Savnikoff with the Alberta RCMP.<\/p>\n

Mounties then arrested the suspect.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVehicle dealership northeast of Edmonton warning others about alleged fraud attempt\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Savnikoff reminds people to be aware of both your physical I.D. and your online behaviours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdentity theft is on the rise in Canada and it takes shape in many different forms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Some of the consequences of stolen I.D. being used include victims being held responsible for loans that had been taken out in their names, dealerships being unable to sell vehicles that have liens placed on them, and legitimate owners having their vehicles repossessed.<\/p>\n

Kimmy said when I.D. fraud does happen, there is very little consequence to his business \u2014 his concern is for the victims whose credit becomes compromised by such large transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that a better community starts with the individuals making a difference,\u201d Kimmy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how small or insignificant the event is, I think if you always try to do your best and stick up for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think eventually \u2014 hopefully \u2014 these fraudsters will be put to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liam Richardson, 20, from Ontario, has been charged with two counts of identity fraud, misuse of credit card, traffic of forged documents, and possession of forged documents.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5:01
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat you need to know to prevent identity theft\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Using stolen or forged identification to make big ticket purchases isn\u2019t a new scam, but it appears to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,2169,164005,164006,9444,164007],"class_list":["post-385831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-fake-id","tag-forged-documents","tag-identity-theft","tag-wetaskiwin-motorsports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}