Bump in status-card scams raises concerns in Kahnawake

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Kahnawake, a First Nations reserve on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, peacekeeper Jennifer Stacey was exiting Kahnawake’s police station on May 12 when the noticed a truck hauling a brand new Chrysler Pacific.

The truck driver told her he was delivering the $35,000 vehicle, which had been sold by a dealer in Brossard, to a customer with a card issued by the Communauté Mikinak, a self-proclaimed native community in Beauharnois not recognized as a First Nations territory by the Canadian government.

Since status aboriginals do not have to pay taxes when they buy cars, the customer was attempting to claim a tax exemption that would amount to $5,250 on a $35,000 car.

But Stacey informed the driver that Mikinak cards do not give tax exemption rights, ordered the manager to void the sale and reissue an invoice including tax or be charged with fraud.

Read more at Montreal Gazette

This article is summarized by Canadian Fraud News Inc.