cnn
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Rod Ashby was desperate to find his wife Kim Ashby after their newly built home in Elk Park, North Carolina, was swept away by flooding from Hurricane Helene in late September and she disappeared.

His daughter, Ansley Ashby, told CNN that her father needed a four-wheel drive pickup truck to navigate the roads along the Elk River, which had been largely decimated by the storm, so he could search for Kim. . His Ford F-350 had been lost in raging water and mud.

Rod, a U.S. Navy veteran, began purchasing a new vehicle with the insurance payment he received, Ansley said.

“I was really just trying to find a truck that wouldn’t cost a lot of money with everything else going on and that I could get my hands on pretty quickly,” he said.

Ansley said Rod, who does not speak to the media, found a website claiming to be a Colorado car dealership that was selling repossessed vehicles at prices below market value. After having several phone conversations and exchanging emails with the supposed seller, Rod decided to purchase a 2020 Ford F-350 listed on the site. He received a contract and bill of sale from the seller and transferred nearly $40,000 to the seller’s bank account.

“To be honest, it seemed legit,” Ansley said.

But 36 hours after Rod sent the money and received confirmation that the car would be delivered by Oct. 30, Ansley said he discovered the F-350 was still for sale on the site.

Ansley called the seller from a phone number not associated with his original account and posed as a new buyer interested in that same truck. The salesman told him the truck was available, he said. That’s when Ansley said he realized they had been scammed.

He investigated further and discovered that the scammer was posing as a real car dealer in Colorado and had even created a copycat version of their website, Ansley said.

The scam has only made things worse for a family already recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Helene and desperately searching for Kim. a 58 year old teacher whom his daughter, Jessica Meidinger, calls “the glue that holds everyone together.”

“It’s just another punch in the gut,” said Ansley, Kim’s stepdaughter. “You feel so helpless.”

Ansley said she and her father have contacted their bank and the scammer’s bank to report the fraud, but have yet to have any luck getting the money they sent back.

The family filed a police report with the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where Rod currently lives with Ansley. The family filed a police report with the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in Pittsboro, North Carolina, where Rod currently lives. Ansley, Meidinger and his wife, Ansley said.

The family’s fraud case is under investigation, according to Randall Rigsbee, spokesman for the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.

Ansley said the scammer’s website has been taken down. ABC 11, CNN affiliate in Raleigh reported that he sent an email to the company, but the message was returned as undeliverable and he was unable to reach anyone by phone.

The owner of the legitimate Colorado car dealership told CNN that in recent months he received calls from several people who were victims of the same scam. The owner asked not to be identified for fear that his business would be unfairly targeted by scam victims.

“They’re taking the money and people don’t even see the cars (in person) or anything,” the owner said. “They are transferring the money blindly.”

Melanie McGovern, spokesperson for the Better Business BureauHe said it’s best to work with local car dealers who will let you come in, see the vehicle and test drive it.

McGovern advises doing thorough research on the car dealer to make sure the business is legitimate. The Better Business Bureau has a tracker on their website which lists scams that have been previously reported to the organization.

Red flags for scams include websites that look poorly designed with spelling errors and sellers who rush you into a purchase by saying they have other buyers waiting, he said. McGovern advises people to purchase vehicles with credit cards or checks because they are more likely to have fraud protection, unlike wire transfers.

“When you transfer something, you’re authorizing that transaction and it’s harder to get that money back,” he said. “People really need to be patient, stop, pause and say, ‘Does this sound legit?’”

Ansley Ashby He said his father is struggling to cope with his new reality: His wife and three dogs are missing, his house was destroyed by the hurricane and he doesn’t know if he will get his nearly $40,000 back.

Rod Ashby and Kim had passed the last tTwo years building the house along the Elk River that they planned to make into their retirement home.

According to the family, they had visited periodically to put the finishing touches on it. The couple lives in Sanford, about 45 miles southwest of Raleigh, but went to the house near the Tennessee state line to take care of some things before the storm.

The couple built the house 20 feet above the river’s historic flood lines. Meidinger previously told CNN that his foundation was no match for Helene’s destructive tide.

On September 27, the couple was having breakfast when Rod realized something was wrong. In a matter of seconds, the house was swept away by the river.

Meidinger said Rod grabbed his mother and three dogs, held them to a mattress and then a wall, as their house floated down the river. They were finally separated in the rapid waters.

“That was the last time he saw my mother,” Meidinger previously told CNN. “The last time anyone saw my mom.”

Avery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Van Williams said police and volunteer search teams have spent the past six weeks combing the Elk River for Kim, with no luck. She is one of two people still missing in the county after the storm, Williams said.

More than 200 people died in the southeast region of the country due to the hurricane, CNN previously reported.

Ansley said his father had shared his struggles with the scammer during several phone conversations before transferring the money.

“He definitely took advantage of our situation,” he said.

CNN’s Ray Sanchez and David Williams contributed to this story.