Mafias use new scam in car sales in Ecuador

BUYING A CAR IN ECUADOR WITH COLOMBIAN OR PERUVIAN PLATES – CAUTION – IT COULD BE A SCAM

ELCOMERCIO.COM/Sara Ortiz Ortiz (Machine Translated) reported… It was the vehicle of his dreams: engine 3500, ABS brakes, rain sensors, electric mirrors, four airbags … For Gabriel, a 37-year-old agriculturist, the best thing about the offer was the price and the promise It was a car “totally tax free”. The announcement read it on the Internet, on a page dedicated to importing vehicles to Ecuador. But far from being an opportunity, it was a new modality of scam that spreads in social networks . The main feature of this fraud is that the cars and motorcycles offered have Colombian or Peruvian plates. . Esteban Servigón , director of the National Customs Service of Ecuador (Senae), warns. This entity, together with the Customs Crimes Unit of the Police, has seized 50 vehicles with foreign plates. These goods entered the country with a tourist permit that allows them a free circulation for 90 days. After that period, the records are classified as irregular.

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For Sergio, another disadvantage that resides in Ibarra , the offer he saw on Facebook seemed serious. He even received in his e-mail a catalog of luxury cars and other mid-range cars, which specified very low prices. In communications with the company also received information on the requirements of sale. The main one: that the vehicle was in Colombia . “I had to cancel half the money, about USD 12,000, and the company sent the car to Ibarra, but I had Colombian plates. By the time he received it, he had to cancel the other USD 12 000, “he details through an email. The young man says that the transaction took shape and received the car five months ago. However, it has not yet been able to register it and the tourist traffic permit has already expired. What worries him most is to write off a USD debt of at least 4 500 for fines. A figure that, by the way, grows, because every day that the car stays in the country must cancel a basic unified salary , said Migration to this Journal. In customs investigation , the agents discovered that these criminal groups employ two other criminal modalities . The first is to misrepresent the buyer’s personal information. In other words, criminal networks deliver documents of foreign residence so that Ecuadorians can safely enter the vehicle and, thus, evade taxes. “They enter as tourists to the country and as they say they go to Quito, Baños or the beaches, they are granted a vehicle traffic permit,” adds Servigón. The problem is that pretending to be a tourist and delivering this false information in Migration is perjury and the person can face a trial and even go to jail for up to three years, as established in the Comprehensive Penal Code . Tax evasion is also another serious crime. Fausto Olivo, director of the Judicial Police of Quito , says that the third way of operating criminal organizations is through smuggling. What does it consist of? According to the investigator, a first criminal group is responsible for sending the car to Ecuador, and here other suspects change the engine and chassis numbers and then, with the complicity of public officials, legally enroll them. In March, police confiscated 46 luxury cars that came across the northern and southern borders, through contraband routes. “It is important that people question the legal origin of any vehicle that is offered in social networks,” warns Olivo. In the country, since August, Criminalistics offers a vehicle certification service. Users can approach any office of that police unit and request the analysis. The advices * Check that the offers on the Internet come from companies authorized to import vehicles into the country. * Find out through the Senae what are the requirements to import vehicles from abroad. * Offers dude when prices are low, minimum requirements and financing is offered. * Take the car you want to buy from the Criminalistics office and request a study of originality. * If you have more doubts about the importation of cars, write to: mesadeservicios@aduana.gob.ec. READ FULL ARTICLE