By Charlene Macaulay
Wyndham police are calling on residents to beware of selling goods through social media and online marketplaces following a spate of incidents in which people have been assaulted in their homes by opportunistic thieves posing as buyers.
Senior Sergeant Aaron Riches from Wyndham police said four Wyndham residents had been assaulted this year to date and had their mobile phones stolen after trying to sell the devices online.
“They’re hinging off unaccountable social media platforms – such as Gumtree and Facebook sales – where it’s really easy to create an agreement to meet at the person’s house to look at the phone,” he said of the thieves.
“People are trusting … the person arrives at the address and the minute the phone is handed over for inspection … the offenders are assaulting the owners of the phones in the front doorway and running off.
“Quite often, we’ve found that the phones are put into a box and posted overseas, sometimes South Africa, and within 24 hours the phone’s out of the country, which creates other challenges in terms of restitution and investigation avenues.”
Senior Sergeant Riches said the assaults had ranged from “a big push” to being punched in the head. No weapons had been involved in the attacks.
Police believe different offenders have been responsible for each Wyndham attack, with arrests made in three out of the four offences.
The targets tend to be young people under the age of 24.
“We know for a fact it’s a statewide trend,” he said.
“These social media platforms facilitate this type of offence, as opposed to eBay, where it’s a no-contact type of arrangement and the items are posted with tracking once the payment is made and it’s accountable – the people’s accounts have to have bona fide details.
“We would prefer if people use [eBay] to avoid becoming victims.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Hatt from the Southern Metro Region Crime Team said: “There is a common misconception that getting the buyer to attend your home is the safest way to sell your mobile phone, however our intelligence shows this is where the thefts are most commonly taking place.”
The crime trend comes a year after at least six Wyndham cases in which people were lured to suburban streets at night on the pretense of selling their phones, only to have them snatched from them. That trend has since stopped.
Police said that if residents wanted to sell items online, they should arrange to meet buyers in public places where there are CCTV cameras; meet buyers at times when a lot of people are likely to be around; and take a friend or a family member.
