Pathak turned to Global News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/V2-6P-NIGHTMARE-TRUCK-P_OM01RF5A_thumbnail_1280x720_.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:59
\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\tAlberta family finds out truck was stolen after they bought it from a dealership\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Days after the story aired, Summit Ram made an arrangement to repay Pathak the nearly $40,000 price tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been issued a check of the actual amount of what we paid for the truck. Now this matter is resolved,\u201d Pathak said.<\/p>\n
Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n
While he is happy to have his money back, he is frustrated with the long wait and the whole process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I am a whistleblower because since this news broke out to the Global News, I would (say) 99.9 per cent of people were just saying one thing: \u2018This person should get his money back because he\u2019s the victim,’\u201d Pathak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand maybe the Kaizen Group may go through the same process to retrieve the vehicle or retrieve the money, but as a consumer\u2026 my involvement should be very minimal in all these scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\")
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The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams\u2019 auto theft unit calls this a prolific problem, and it\u2019s not just used vehicles targeted \u2014 new automobiles can also have their VINs tampered with.<\/p>\n
ALERT auto crime unit Sgt. Brandon Crozier said the problem on the rise.<\/p>\n
He said analysts have been working to identify number and it\u2019s estimated since 2022, there 1,500 fraudulent vehicles that originated in Alberta.<\/p>\n
\u201cRe-VINs have always been a problem,\u201d Crozier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing an increase, because there\u2019s technology out there to assist these guys with the craft. VIN labels, you can buy them online. We have intercepted several shipments coming to people in Edmonton, and it\u2019s a complete set of VINs for any vehicle.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhen you check those VIN labels, they\u2019ve never been built.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimarily,\u00a0vehicles\u00a0are\u00a0stolen\u00a0in\u00a0Alberta\u00a0and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0usually\u00a0relatively\u00a0new\u00a0or brand-new vehicles taken for the purpose of profit. That could either be exportation out of the country for profit or re-VINning them and introducing them back into the marketplace for sale to unsuspecting buyers,\u201d Sgt. Crozier said.<\/p>\n
Crozier said criminals will steal a vehicle, re-VIN and establish a paper trail so when they go to a register it, the vehicle appears to be insure in Alberta and has someone\u2019s name attached to it.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CAR-THEFT-RING.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:59
\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\tRCMP bust organized crime vehicle theft ring that exploited Alberta registry loophole\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
In the case of used vehicles sold to a dealership, that means when staff run checks to make sure there\u2019s no safety issues and it\u2019s currently registered, the dealership will take that at face value.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that vehicle lands with a citizen who bought it unsuspecting, it\u2019s quite easy (for police) to find because they have their current address, and their proper name and everything on the registration,\u201d Crozier said.<\/p>\n
Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, we are seizing more vehicles from unsuspecting victims than we are from the bad guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Criminal rings are becoming more and more sophisticated every day, police say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a group who they will target certain vehicle makes, they will have expertise and the technology to revamp a vehicle and then they have people that can now start pushing those out into the marketplace,\u201d Crozier said.<\/p>\n
Crozier said there are things you can do protect yourself, whether you\u2019re buying from a dealership or an individual:<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tMore on Consumer
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n
Meet with the buyer at their home or possibly a police station parking lotTake a friend as a second set of eyesVerify VIN labels are present and do not appear to be tampered withCheck that the VIN on the door frame and the one in the windshield matchCheck the public CPIC website for stolen vehiclesGet a Carfax vehicle history report. Look for red flags like colour change, mileage inconsistencies and if the service history and registration make senseCheck the manufacture website to see if there are any outstanding safety recalls. Note: a fraudulent VIN will not be searchableCheck for loans or liens against the VINGoogle search the VIN<\/p>\n
The Insurance Bureau of Canada\u2019s Rob de Pruis said when you buy a vehicle, you have to remember buyer beware \u2014 it\u2019s up to the consumer to explore the tools available to know the vehicle\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you buy a vehicle, your insurance company will provide you that insurance in good faith, assuming all the information is correct,\u201d de Pruis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour insurance policy is there to protect you from things like theft, but it must be stolen from you.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaw enforcement repossessing a vehicle is not something the insurance policy covers.\u201d<\/p>\n
de Pruis said the onus is on the buyer to understand that vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour\u00a0insurance\u00a0policy\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0cover\u00a0items\u00a0that\u00a0have\u00a0been\u00a0illegally\u00a0acquired,\u00a0even\u00a0if\u00a0you\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0do\u00a0so\u00a0knowingly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said the situation Pathak went through is completely unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen an Albertan buys a vehicle from a licensed dealership, it should always be legally owned,\u201d Nally said in a statement to Global News.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have met with the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council to get answers on how this happened, and I expect them to take the necessary steps to strengthen oversight and prevent this from ever happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Click](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6p-VEHICLE-THEFTS.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:50
\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 thefts increase in Edmonton as stolen autos used to commit crime or sold overseas\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
AMVIC said, in a statement, it is having ongoing meetings with the department officials to review and potentially strengthen protections for Albertans in the automotive industry.<\/p>\n
Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n
\u201cAMVIC will also continue to work closely with the RCMP and other police services regarding investigating and prosecuting fraudulent activities in the automotive sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kaizen Automotive Group owns over 20 dealerships, primarily in the Calgary area and in California.\u00a0Global News reached out to Kaizen for comment on this story but as of publishing, had not received a response.<\/p>\n
Earlier in March, the Calgary-based auto group released a statement saying it was aware of the situation and had been working with Pathak and AMVIC for months.<\/p>\n
Kaizen said it was recently \u201cgiven information\u201d that the truck may have been fraudulently purchased in 2024 and that fraud was reported to the RCMP.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears that the information was not uploaded into the RCMP database for stolen vehicles. Summit Ram at the time of sale completed a lien search and VIN verification and followed all standard precautions to confirm the vehicle was free and clear. All checks came back clean and verified,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been in contact with both law enforcement and the relevant financial institutions to better understand why the vehicle was seized from the home of the customer without providing any relevant information to the customer nor Summit Ram.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ashutosh Pathak and his brother went to purchase a truck, they couldn\u2019t have predicted the headache that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[215625,49,48,1849,2169,215626,44,197954,215627],"class_list":["post-556644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-amvic","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-consumer","tag-crime","tag-kaizen-auto-group","tag-news","tag-stolen-vehicle","tag-summit-dodge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556644","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=556644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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