COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Sumter County Sheriff’s Department has issued a warning to residents following a series of Facebook Marketplace scams that left victims held at gunpoint and robbed last month.
“We’re a little too trusting, and we tend to think the best of people," said Mark Bordeaux, public information officer for the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department. "We think, ‘Well, we’d never do something like that, so nobody else would dare do something like that.’”
The sheriff's department is urging Midlands residents to exercise caution when using Facebook Marketplace.
Bordeaux explained that some recent crimes involved buyers traveling to remote locations, far from cameras and crowds, thinking they were making legitimate purchases. "Folks have traveled out to locations away from cameras, away from the crowd, to perhaps a residential address out in the county somewhere, and they hope to make a purchase,” Bordeaux said.
He noted that in four instances over the last two months, people looking to buy trailers were threatened with their lives.
“They've arrived and met one person, and then another, and very soon found out those people were bearing weapons and threatening their lives,” Bordeaux explained. “They have to give up their hard-earned money to be able to get out of there.”
In response to these incidents, the sheriff’s department has increased advertising efforts for its video-monitored Internet Purchase and Exchange Location.
The site is designed to provide a safe, neutral area for buyers and sellers to complete online transactions.
“Sheriff [Anthony] Dennis decided some time ago that we wanted to do something to help protect the citizens," Bordeaux said. "We have a place under video surveillance right here in our parking lot where people can make exchanges with those they've met online, for purchases like those on Facebook Marketplace."
Bordeaux also offered safety tips for those who cannot use the sheriff’s department’s exchange location. “Don’t go alone. Go to a place that is heavily populated, busy with people, and where there’s an active camera in use. Do the exchange there, examine the merchandise, and don’t hand over any money until you’ve confirmed everything is okay,” he advised.