Altona Police Service is alerting local residents to a scam that involves stealing someone's identity to commit fraud and it's occurring in several provinces across Canada.

Police say it started out with a local resident, who was the initial victim, posting a vehicle for sale on a common buy-and-sell website.

A potential buyer contacted him claiming to be from Alberta who was in the process of moving to Manitoba. After expressing interest in purchasing the vehicle, the buyer asked the seller to send him a picture of his drivers license and vehicle registration and that once he had confirmed the information, he would then send a deposit for the purchase of the vehicle. That buyer was never heard from again.

However, a month later, three different people showed up at the seller's property wanting to pick up their vehicle. One of the victims had deposited $1,000, another person laid out $600 and a third had paid $300 down. The seller had to tell the victims that they had been scammed and that he had never received any deposits for the purchase of his vehicle.

The seller took down his ad, but the suspect continues to post it at a much-reduced price and with the seller's name on it, but a different phone number and email address where the deposits have been sent to.

Police want to remind people to never provide personal or banking information to anyone you do not know or trust.