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.
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.
Dude lost his truck and his wife at the same time. One of these was a heartbreaking loss where their absence in his life was felt immediately and restoring their presence in his life was urgent. The other was his wife.
Dude bought a truck his wife would never let him buy.
He already had one but it was destroyed by the flood.
Dudes never heard of rental cars.
That might not have been an option immediately after a natural disaster.
A rental car agency is always going to be more effective at getting stock to an area than some random online seller.
In the days immediately after a typhoon or a hurricane, I wouldn’t expect a car dealership to be operational either.
Clearly, you’ve never had to survive an emergency weather event.
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.
Sympathies for the missing wife, but zero sympathy for getting scammed online.
