COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. — The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is telling people who buy and sell through Facebook Marketplace and similar apps to pick busy, public meeting places, after a planned sale of a PlayStation 5 ended in a robbery in a parking lot off Riverwatch Parkway.
The seller had arranged on Oct. 16 to hand over the game console to a buyer. Instead, deputies said, two men and a woman took it and drove off. Deputies tracked down the three soon after, got the console back to its owner, and the three are now facing robbery charges.
Sgt. Kimberly Freeman of the sheriff’s office said deputies field plenty of reports about online scams, especially as the holidays get closer, but a robbery tied to a marketplace meetup is unusual.
Her advice is to make the exchange in daylight somewhere crowded, such as a big retail store, a convenience store, a library or a government building, where other people are around. Freeman also suggested checking the other person’s profile before agreeing to meet. An account that is only a few days old and suddenly selling something is a red flag, while years of activity and good reviews are a better sign.
Several law enforcement offices in the area can serve as exchange spots. They include the sheriff’s substation at 630 Ronald Reagan Drive in Evans, the Grovetown Department of Public Safety at 306 East Robinson Avenue, and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 400 Walton Way in Augusta. Deputies also recommend keeping conversations inside the app rather than handing out a cell number, and walking away from any deal that feels wrong.
Section: More Augusta GA crime news
Filed under: Augusta GA Public Safety News
