(File photo) Photo: Supplied
A Glen Innes man has been arrested and charged with 27 counts of fraud, all of which relate to Facebook Marketplace.
Police had issued a warrant for the arrest of the 26-year-old man in relation to a number of fraud incidents across Tāmaki Makaurau in recent weeks.
On Saturday night, police searched an address in Glen Innes, found the man and arrested him.
He was due to appear in the Auckland District Court today and faced 27 charges of fraud, all of which were alleged to relate to sales on Facebook Marketplace.
The man's bail has been opposed by police.
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Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Bolton, Auckland City CIB, said the arrest came when police were seeing a "concerning" amount of reports of people being duped by other users of Facebook Marketplace.
"While it is a very successful buy and sell platform, it's also a successful hunting ground for criminals to buy items using a fake bank transfer or sell items that don't exist and don't deliver.
"Every day, our officers in the Financial Crime Unit are assessing and, unfortunately, filing files where a fake bank transfer has been used by these offenders.
"We've noticed the fake images have become more and more convincing, which means more people have fallen victim to their trap."
The unit was seeing up to 60 such reports a month relating to this type of crime, Bolton said.
"These types of scams are notoriously difficult for police to investigate so we are urging those who use the buy and sell platform to exercise caution and do their due-diligence first.
"Prevention will always be the best tactic to avoid becoming a victim."
Police advised people using buy and sell platform to:
- Insist on meeting to conduct transactions and examine the item before completing the transaction
- Meet in a public place and take a friend - do not go into someone's house or allow them into yours
- Ensure you have received the item before depositing money into another person's account
- Learn more about the person you are buying from or selling to
- Ensure friends and family, especially anyone vulnerable, understand what to do to protect themselves
- Be the person to provide that ongoing support and advice
- Trust your instincts - if it's too good to be true or sounds like a scam, it probably is.
- contact your bank and immediately suspend your account if you have handed over your bank details,
If you believe you are or have been a victim of fraud, contact the [www.police.govt.nz/use-105 police], or call 105 and report the matter.