A long time ago, prior to the iPhone 3G being introduced in Canada, the following procedure was required to get a first gen iPhone:
1. Go to the USA and buy one from the Apple Store (or get a friend/relative to bring one back for you).
2. Research on how to jailbreak/unlock in order to use the iPhone with Rogers/Fido
Of course, for those with lots of free time on their hands, accomplishing the above was relatively easy. But for most people who just wanted an iPhone to work right out of they box, they turned to a service from iPhoneNow.ca. This website offered Canadians iPhones shipped from the US and ready to use right out of the box. But there was one problem: iPhones never arrived–it was a scam!
Turns out the founder of this site, Scott Beyers, or Mr. Joshua Trousdale, had a common past of creating sites to scam others through sales of electronics. Lots of iPhoneinCanada.ca readers were unfortunate victims of this scam and lost somewhere between $500-900! The worst part was this site took off around Christmas time, and it definitely was the coal in many stockings.
Gillian Shaw, a technology writer for the Vancouver Sun recently attended Mr. Trousdale’s court hearing. He was convicted of obstruction of justice and uttering forged documents. He will be serving one year in jail.
Here’s a summary of our iPhoneNow.ca coverage:
Buying An Unlocked iPhone From iPhoneNow.ca, Dec. 10th, 2007
Update: iPhoneNow.ca in the Vancouver Sun, Feb 2nd, 2008
The End of iPhoneNow.ca, Feb. 14th, 2008
iPhoneNow.ca Update: Accused Jailed on Charges, Oct. 30, 2008
Did you “purchase” an iPhone from iPhoneNow.ca? Or did you know someone that got scammed?
