By Gabriella Payne
Police are warning online shoppers to take precautions when arranging to buy or sell items over the internet, after a Doveton man was robbed of his dirt bike over the weekend in a Marketplace deal gone wrong.
After advertising his bike for sale on Facebook Marketplace, the victim found a buyer and arranged for the unknown person to come to his house for an inspection of the bike at approximately 5.20pm on Saturday 12 December.
At the inspection, two men showed up at the victim’s house, where one of them asked to take the dirt bike for a test drive.
When the victim refused, the offender started the engine and attempted to ride off but the victim stopped him, grabbing hold of the handlebars.
It was then that the offender grew aggressive and punched the victim to the head, causing him to let go and for the offender to get away, stealing the man’s bike.
The second offender followed his accomplice on his own motorised bicycle, both culprits fleeing the scene.
Both offenders are described as male, the first one being approximately 16 years of age, with tanned skin and was dressed in all black clothing.
The second offender is described as being of African appearance, with short braided hair and was wearing all blue clothing at the time.
Police have released an image of the stolen dirt bike and are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
Especially in the lead up to Christmas, police are recommending online buyers and sellers undertake a number of steps to help prevent dangerous situations like this from happening again.
These include looking into the buyer/seller before meeting up – if a social media page looks newly created or has very few followers, then this is a common sign that the page is fake.
Shoppers are encouraged not to meet at their own house, but rather a public place with many people around and CCTV cameras and are urged not to go on their own to a sale, but rather bring a friend or family member if possible.
Police also recommend communicating with the person verbally rather than via text or online message, as it is often easier to discern if anything suspicious is going on that way and to be safe, say that sellers should never accept screenshots as proof of payment.
