3 fall victim to Facebook Marketplace scams

News

Police are investigating a string of robberies after three people fell victim to Facebook Marketplace scams.

In one incident, police said on December 12, an El Socorro father and daughter went to Prince Street, Port of Spain, to view a red CS3 Lancer they saw for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $13,000.

The father reportedly made arrangements with the potential seller to meet, and when he and his daughter got to the location, a man with an umbrella directed them to a lonely alley.

The man was beaten and robbed of two cell phones and his bank card while his daughter was robbed of her phone, cash and debit card. Police described the suspect as a man of African descent with a slim build, and brown complexion dressed in a t-shirt and pants and wearing a covid mask.

Meanwhile, on December 14, North Eastern Division task force officers arrested a man who took $5,000 from a Belmont man in a rent-to-own scam.

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According to reports, the victim told officers he responded to an advertisement on Facebook Marketplace on November 5, for a rent-to-own house on 8th Avenue, Barataria. Two days later, he paid $5,000 to a man who then blocked the victim’s calls and messages after they viewed the property.

On Saturday, the victim alerted officers to a bar in Barataria where he pointed out the suspect who fled but was eventually caught in the yard of a poorly lit vacant property along 10th Street. The man is expected to be charged with obtaining money by false pretence once police police complete their investigations.

In yet another incident, a Sangre Grande man told police he went on Saturday to purchase gold from someone who posted an advertisement on Facebook when in an area off Damarie Hill, Guaico, a man pointed a gun at him and robbed him of $5,400 cash and an iPhone.

The victim said he was told to drive off and while doing so, he heard a gunshot before his assailant ran off in a bushy area.