Selling anything online is a risk. You never know who is going to show up, and there are very few ways to vet either sellers or buyers. This is why it’s important never to go alone and never to meet someone in a secluded place.
For a resident of Burton, Australia, things turned nasty during the sale of his BMW. The buyer turned up just before midnight, which is always a red flag, and asked to take the car for a test drive. This is nothing out of the ordinary for a car sale, and so the seller said why not, and let him take the car for a spin.
This, interestingly, isn’t when the theft took place. According to SAPOL, the potential buyer took the BMW for a quick drive around the block before returning it and stepping out.
As he stepped out of the car, the seller requested that the potential buyer show him a license and registration, but instead, he pulled out a knife. Brandishing the weapon, having decided the BMW was worth stealing, the buyer turned the thief, floored it, and drove off with the car, leaving the seller empty-handed.
On the Hunt
Thankfully, the victim wasn’t injured in the theft. He knew that his life wasn’t worth his car, so when he saw the knife, he took a step back and let them leave.
Now, police are on the hunt for the 2008 BMW sedan driven by a man his early 20s, about 178cm tall. However, at present, it hasn’t been located, and the thief is still in possession of the stolen vehicle. For now, local police are asking anyone with any information to call CrimeStoppers.
Sell Safe
Anyone hoping to buy or sell with strangers online needs to take extra precautions. Situations like this car theft happen all the time, and they often happen in broad daylight. By the very nature of a sale, one person has something someone else wants. There isn’t much stopping them from just taking it if they’re that way inclined and the situation allows.
The trick is to make sure that the situation doesn’t allow. If this man had, instead, met the buyer in a busy parking lot in the middle of the day rather than his own quiet neighborhood in the middle of the night, the thief might have thought twice about pulling a knife and high-tailing it.
But hindsight is always 20/20. This should stand as a warning. Don’t go selling your stuff on back streets in the middle of the night to strangers.