Police probing fake GoodLife memberships bought on Kijiji

A day after CityNews reported on hundreds of people allegedly defrauded of GoodLife memberships, another apparent fraud involving the company has come to light.

Toronto resident Tiffany Ferrer said last month, she found an ad on Kijiji offering a discount on a membership at the gym — $400 for a full year.

Ferrer said she replied to the woman, who claimed to be a GoodLife employee. The woman told her she had to pay cash to get the pass, which was really a complimentary “friends and family” membership.

Ferrer said she validated the pass at the GoodLife on Bloor Street East, west of Church, and then e-transferred the money to the woman. Everything seemed fine for a couple weeks.

“Then all of a sudden it was cancelled,” Ferrer said.

“They said they didn’t know why at the GoodLife, but then I called customer service and they told me it was a fraudulent voucher.

“I’m just wondering why they weren’t able to detect this fraudulent gift card right away.”

As a result, the company cancelled the membership.

GoodLife said it has a record of 34 people who have purchased these memberships from Kijiji, but claims no former or current GoodLife associates are involved.

The company said the former employee whose name is on the counterfeit pass does not appear to be behind the alleged fraud.

Police suspect someone is using one of her old complimentary membership vouchers to create counterfeit passes.

GoodLife also said the issue is not linked to one in York Region, in which an employee has been accused of taking cash for annual memberships, but not passing on the money to the company. The company says it’s missing $125,000.

Toronto police confirm they are investigating at least three other reports of similar Kijiji purchases.

GoodLife is reminding customers that annual memberships can’t be bought online.

For more information on your rights when joining a gym, check the Ontario government website.