A 38-year-old Romanian national is facing several charges in connection with a used car engine oil scam.
Police in Durham Region say on April 27, 2026, someone in Uxbridge arranged to meet with a man after being contacted about a vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
After taking the car for a test drive, the man poured engine oil onto the vehicle’s engine while the seller was being distracted by a second suspect. The suspects then claimed that the engine was damaged and leaking oil, which significantly reduced the value of the vehicle. The seller then agreed to sell the vehicle to substantially less than the original asking price.
On May 1, 2026, investigators became aware that the same vehicle had been listed for sale on the same social media website at nearly the original price. The listing also showed an odometer reading that was approximately half of the vehicle’s legitimate mileage.
Mogos Constantin, who also goes by the alias Catalin Ionascu, was arrested and faces seven fraud-related charges.
Police say Constantin is also wanted on multiple warrants by the San Jose Police Department, and in 2023 was arrested as part of a Romanian Organized Crime syndicate that operated similar Facebook marketplace vehicle scams as well as armed carjackings, armed robberies, and targeting elderly members of the Asian and Indian communities.
A 38-year-old Romanian national is facing several charges in connection with a used car engine oil scam. Police in Durham Region say on April 27, 2026, someone in Uxbridge arranged to meet with a man after being contacted about a vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace. After taking the car for a test drive, the Local
A 38-year-old Romanian national is facing several charges in connection with a used car engine oil scam.
Police in Durham Region say on April 27, 2026, someone in Uxbridge arranged to meet with a man after being contacted about a vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
After taking the car for a test drive, the man poured engine oil onto the vehicle’s engine while the seller was being distracted by a second suspect. The suspects then claimed that the engine was damaged and leaking oil, which significantly reduced the value of the vehicle. The seller then agreed to sell the vehicle to substantially less than the original asking price.
On May 1, 2026, investigators became aware that the same vehicle had been listed for sale on the same social media website at nearly the original price. The listing also showed an odometer reading that was approximately half of the vehicle’s legitimate mileage.
Mogos Constantin, who also goes by the alias Catalin Ionascu, was arrested and faces seven fraud-related charges.
Police say Constantin is also wanted on multiple warrants by the San Jose Police Department, and in 2023 was arrested as part of a Romanian Organized Crime syndicate that operated similar Facebook marketplace vehicle scams as well as armed carjackings, armed robberies, and targeting elderly members of the Asian and Indian communities.