Phone website is just one of many linked to convicted fraudster
Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The man behind an Internet sales scheme that saw people pay for iPhones that never arrived has apparently abandoned his $2,000-a-month Port Coquitlam rental home.
Joshua Tristan Trousdale, who relocated to B.C. after being convicted of fraud in New Brunswick under his earlier name, Scott Frederick Byers, is linked to an elaborate Internet operation that is inviting people to divulge their personal and financial information.
Trousdale picked up and moved recently without notice, following a pattern that has kept his numerous online activities operating despite a string of people complaining to law enforcement agencies about their dealings with him.
The apparently lucrative operation -- his latest operation, iPhoneNow.ca, claims to have taken more than 12,000 iPhone orders -- highlights the wild west aspect of the Internet, where authorities face difficulties ranging from jurisdictional issues to simple technological overload.
iPhoneNow.ca is only one of many websites linked to Trousdale, sites that are slick and convincing, often with smiling business people and online chat support, offering everything from voice-recognition technology to complete merchant financial services.
In exchange, Web surfers are invited to divulge extensive personal data, including credit card numbers, security codes, social insurance numbers and other valuable information.
Various headquarter addresses are listed on the websites' registration, including Canwest Global Place in Winnipeg, corporate head office of Canwest Global Communications Corp., which owns this newspaper and also CHBC in Kelowna, which carried a story on Trousdale when he lived there.
Less than a year ago several suppliers were left unpaid in the wake of a Trousdale business scheme gone sour, a discount store called Deals Depot in Kerrisdale. However, even as people were filing complaints with the Vancouver police over that, Trousdale was starting up his new online venture offering iPhones for sale.
His base of operations was a rental home in Port Coquitlam, described by his landlord as filled with computer equipment and widescreen televisions, which he appears to have vacated without notice following stories about his operations last week in The Vancouver Sun.
Meanwhile, Trousdale's online presence continues unabated with his iPhoneNow.ca website now offering a $50 Starbucks card in a contest for customers who write testimonials saying they have received their iPhones.
This tempting with prizes marks a deviation for Trousdale, who has quashed many online complaints swirling about him with threats of costly lawsuits.
As recently as late last week, the operator of one online blog said he was telephoned by Vancouver lawyer Shafik Bhalloo, who was identified in a letter signed by Trousdale as his company's legal counsel. Bhalloo told The Sun he does not act for iPhoneNow.ca, but he refused to confirm or deny he is working for Trousdale or his related company, CIPC Worldwide Holdings Corp.
In the wake of The Sun's stories iPhoneNow.ca, which had been threatening customers with a $500 "fraudulent" transaction penalty if they asked their credit card provider to reverse the charges for the undelivered phones, posted a notice saying customers could receive a refund if they e-mailed the site.
