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Monday, Oct 7, 2013
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
Trade sites on police radar BY MYLES HUME
MYLES.H@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Social media sites being used as a platform to trade goods are on the radar of Ashburton police who are warning locals about the risks of using the “unregulated” web pages. Sergeant Janine Bowden, of Ashburton, said the growing popularity of trading goods on Facebook pages was in the sights of police, who are mindful of thieves attempting to sell stolen goods or people trying to scam the pages. The Guardian last week spoke to administrators of Ashburton Facebook pages that allow locals to buy, sell and exchange goods over the social media site, with some pages seeing up to 2000 local members. The administrators told of incidents where dodgy dealing took place, and sent a warning to members to be vigilant of thieves, stolen goods and scammers. Ms Bowden said if members received stolen goods unknowingly they could end up “empty handed”, as the goods would be returned back to their owner. New Zealand law states anyone receiving stolen property knowing it was stolen or who were reckless in obtaining it could be prosecuted. “Well our message would be,
Ashburton police are warning locals about the risks of trading goods online. PHOTO TETSURO MITOMO 041013-TM-129
if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is,” Ms Bowden said. “If you buy a TV that’s worth $800 in the shop for $50 off a 14-year-old, what the law would say is you turned your mind to the fact those items were unlikely to be legitimately sold, so anyone in those circumstances would be in jeopardy of the law. “I think people buying goods off private Facebook pages and individuals have to thinking very carefully about the origin of goods and that’s when you have to start looking at circumstances as to why they are selling it.” It is understood there are up to 10 Ashburton Facebook pages where goods can be traded, revolutionising the way thousands of Mid Cantabrians exchange and swap their goods. However, Ms Bowden warned the Facebook pages were “very loose” and not regulated as well as second hand stores or Trade Me, with the administrators being the sole controllers of the pages. She insisted page administrators or members to contact police if they were suspicious or believed they were caught up in a dodgy deal. “If anyone is suspicious about any transaction such as stolen property, then we urge them to ring police.”
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