Communities like Craigslist, OfferUp, Fb Market and others are nice for locating low- or no-cost stuff that one can choose up immediately from a close-by vendor, and for eliminating helpful issues that don’t deserve to finish up in a landfill. However when coping with strangers from the Web, there’s all the time a danger that the individual you’ve agreed to fulfill has different intentions.
Practically all U.S. states now have designated protected buying and selling stations — principally at native police departments — which be certain that all transactions are dealt with in plain view of each the authorities and safety cameras.
These protected buying and selling locations exist is as a result of generally in-person transactions from the Web don’t finish properly for a number of events concerned. The web site Craigslistkillers has catalogued information hyperlinks for no less than 132 murders linked to Craigslist transactions since 2015. Many of those killings concerned high-priced objects like cars and shopper electronics, the place the potential purchaser apparently supposed all alongside to kill the proprietor and steal the merchandise provided on the market. Others had been motivated just by a need to harm individuals.
This isn’t to say that utilizing Craigslist is uniquely dangerous or harmful; I’m positive the overwhelming majority of transactions generated by the positioning finish amicably and with out bodily violence. And that most likely holds true for all of Craigslist’s opponents.
Nonetheless, the danger of a deal going badly when one meets complete strangers from the Web is just not zero, and so it’s solely smart to take just a few easy precautions. For instance, selecting to transact at a chosen protected place resembling a police station dramatically reduces the probability that anybody wishing you hurt would even present up.
I not too long ago stumbled upon considered one of these designated trade locations accidentally, therefore my curiosity in studying extra about them. The one I encountered was at a Virginia county sheriff’s workplace, and it has two parking spots reserved with an indication that reads, “Web Buy & Alternate Location: This Space is Underneath 24 Hour Video Surveillance” [image above].
In response to the checklist maintained at Safetradestations.com, there are 4 different such designated areas in Northern Virginia. And it seems most states now have them in no less than some main cities. Safeexchangepoint.com additionally has a searchable index of protected buying and selling areas in the USA and Canada.
Granted, not everybody goes to stay near considered one of these designated buying and selling stations. Or possibly what you need to purchase, promote or commerce you’d fairly not have recorded in entrance of police cameras. Both means, listed here are just a few tips about staying protected whereas transacting in actual life with strangers from the Web (compliments of the aforementioned protected buying and selling web sites).
The most secure trade factors are simply accessible and in a well-lit, public place the place transactions are seen to others close by. Attempt to prepare a gathering time that’s throughout sunlight hours, and think about bringing a pal alongside — particularly when coping with high-value objects like laptops and good telephones.
Safeexchangepoint.com additionally advises that police or retailers that host their very own trade areas typically received’t become involved within the particulars of your transaction until specified in any other case, and that many police departments (however not all) are keen to verify the serial variety of an merchandise on the market to verify it’s not identified to be stolen property.
After all, it’s not all the time sensible or attainable to haul that previous couch to the native police division, or a used automotive that isn’t working. In these conditions, safetradestations.com has some respectable strategies:
- Meet at a police station the place you possibly can trade and photocopy every others’ identification papers, resembling a driver’s license. Do NOT carry money to this location.
- Photocopy the license or identification paper, or use your cellphone to {photograph} it.
- Electronic mail the ID data to a pal, or to somebody trusted (to not your self).
- If you happen to’re promoting at residence, or going to somebody’s residence, by no means be outnumbered. If you happen to’re at residence, ensure you have two or three individuals there — and inform the one that is coming that you’ll have others with you.
- At residence or an condo, NEVER let somebody go wherever unaccompanied. All the time be sure that they’re escorted.
- By no means let a couple of group come to your own home at one time to purchase or promote.
- Watch out for frequent scams, like checks for an quantity increased than the quantity of the deal; “cashier’s checks” which are cast and offered when the financial institution is closed.
- In case you are given a cashier’s verify, cash order or different equal, name the financial institution — on the quantity listed on-line, not a quantity the customer offers you — to confirm the validity of the verify.
