Ashutosh Pathak and his brother needed to buy a new vehicle for their families. After searching, they finally found a Ford F-150 they felt would be perfect.
“We found the truck in Ponoka, Summit Ram. As any consumer would do, we went in there and checked and inspected the vehicle,” Pathak said.
“We got the truck in October 2025, and in November RCMP seized the truck. We only had the truck for a month and a half.”
The truck was stolen and taken by RCMP. Pathak had no idea, despite going through the proper channels. They checked the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), and even made a point to purchase a vehicle from a reputable dealership as opposed to Facebook Marketplace or an individual.
Pathak said he and his brother paid for the truck through their line of credit and savings. It was nearly $40,000. They bought it from Kaizen Auto Group’s Summit Ram in Ponoka, who said they didn’t know it was stolen.
He made a complaint to AMVIC, the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council. Pathak said its investigation found the dealership didn’t know the vehicle was stolen and was not in the wrong. He was told to go through insurance but the insurance said because it wasn’t stolen from Pathak, it’s not covered.
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That means, Pathak is out $40,000 and has no truck. The vehicle is going to auction next week. He can pursue legal action, but he said he can’t afford it.
“It’s like daytime robbery to me, nobody is taking accountability,” Pathak said.
“Everybody is giving a clean sheet to each other and at the end, who is the victim here? Me.”
Global News asked Kaizen Auto Group for an interview but they didn’t respond.
ALERT’s auto theft unit calls this a prolific problem, and it’s not just used vehicles targeted. New ones can also have their VINs tampered with.
“For dealerships it is often difficult to detect, because individuals who are re-VINing vehicles in the province know their craft well. They can make their labels appear legitimate,” ALERT Auto Crimes Sgt. Brandon Crozier said.
Crozier said this can be devastating for families who are left on the hook for the cost of the vehicle and nothing to show for it.
“It comes down to who has the higher onus, who has the higher burden of proof to take responsibility. Between a privately sold vehicle and another, that is a dispute between them. A vehicle sold between a customer and a dealership… It’s between them, unfortunately. Dealerships say ‘well we’ve done all the checks we could and we’re not negligent in our business practices.’”
He said when customers go to a dealership they expect to be sold vehicles that are safe, not listed as salvage or rebuilt, and not listed as a stolen vehicle, and that doesn’t enter many buyers minds.
“Before going to a dealership, get to know the dealership. I would ask them about their best practices of what they do to ensure vehicles are safe and legitimate to be on a roadway,” Sgt. Crozier said.
Alberta Services Minister Dale Nally said in a statement to Global News that the situation is completely unacceptable.
“When an Albertan buys a vehicle from a licensed dealership, it should always be able to be legally owned. Licensed dealerships have a responsibility to ensure the vehicles they sell meet the requirements to be legally registered,” Nally said.
Nally stressed the government will meet with AMVIC to get answers to understand how this happened and whether improvements are needed to strengthen oversight and prevent this from happening again.
In relation to Pathak’s truck, the RCMP have charged 49-year-old Tanya Michelle Murray of St. Paul with fraud, forgery and uttering a forged document.
She was taken before a Justice of the Peace and released. Her next appearance is set for August 2026.
The RCMP said in an email that despite auto theft numbers dropping, this is a trending crime type.
Purchasers are encouraged to conduct license checks, Carfax, and Carproof as well as ensure they are purchasing from a reputable dealer. These checks may assist in identifying suspicious vehicles.