Christchurch Police are advising people buying or selling electronics on Facebook to be wary of scams and fake profiles.
Police have dealt with five cases in the city where offenders will create a fake Facebook profile and advertise a high-end iPhone or iPad on Facebook Marketplace at a price that’s almost too-good to be true.
The offender then arranges a meeting place to make the sale.
However, in these cases no sale has taken place and multiple victims have had their own cell phones or cash stolen from them.
In other cases the offenders will contact the seller of a genuine listing, arrange a time and place to meet and then steal the item instead of paying for it.
Canterbury Police are working under the assumption that the five incidents are linked and involve the same offenders.
In one case on September 23 a person agreed to meet the offender to sell an iPad they had listed on Facebook Marketplace.
Two offenders have met with the victim and run away with the iPad – and have then assaulted the victim who has given chase.
If you decide to purchase off social media, we encourage you to take basic precautions to protect yourself. This includes:
• Insist on meeting to conduct transactions and examine the item before completing the transaction. Meet in a public place, and take a friend. DO NOT go into someone’s house or allow them into yours, DO NOT deposit money into another person’s account before you have received the item.
• Learning more about the person you are buying from or selling to. Note: You can tap on a person’s profile on the product listing page to see if you have any friends in common, their marketplace activity, and any ratings they may have received.
• Protect yourself from online scams. Check out (link is external) or … and …(link is external)
• Ensure friends and family, especially anyone vulnerable, understand what to do to protect themselves. Be the person to provide that ongoing support and advice.
• Trust your instincts – if it’s too good to be true or sounds like a scam, it probably is.
New Zealand Police have partnered with Facebook, Netsafe and CERT to bring attention to the variety of online scams offenders use.
