With online buying and selling seemingly here to stay, police services across Canada are turning their attention to improving safety for people participating on those transactions.
It’s an issue that got a jolt two years ago, when Tim Bosma disappeared after taking two men on a test driver of a truck he had listed for sale online.
Bosma is believed to have been murdered by those men.
Authorities say his case is a rare outcome, and the vast majority of online transactions are carried out without any issues whatsoever.
“Most people selling on those (sites) are fine,” Guelph Police Const. Mike Gatto told CTV News.
“Unfortunately, if it’s one out of every 100, you have to be careful and you have to be aware of that.”
Police services in Orangeville and Midland have offered up their lobbies as safe spaces to conduct transactions arranged online.
Space concerns make that impractical in Guelph, Gatto says, but police there suggest the parking lot across from their Wyndham Street building might be a good location.
“You can always have the opportunity to suggest you meet at a public place, if that’s what makes you more comfortable,” he said.
Andrew Mackay estimates that he’s been buying and selling items online for eight years.
He has a few horror stories, including one case in which he drove to Arthur only to find that the other person was a no-show.
“You have to be careful if you’re online – a lot more than in a storefront location,” the pawn shop employee said.
“There’s always that risk.”
While police suggest exchanging goods in public, well-lit areas, Mackay says he prefers to head to the house of the other half of the transaction.
“That way, if they try to rip me off or something, at least (I) have an idea of where they are,” he said.
Police suggest anyone going that route place the item in question outside their house, so the stranger doesn’t have any reason to end up inside.
