Facebook Marketplace has become a very popular platform for people to buy and sell personal goods online. However, the Marketplace’s growing popularity also means it is attracting a lot of scammers. The worst problem is these scammers are becoming more convincing in their act of conning people – something a Rolex seller from Long Island learned the hard way when a Marketplace sale went horribly wrong. The person had to jump on the hood of the thief’s SUV in an attempt to stop him from fleeing with the Swiss timepiece without paying. “I was not going to roll over and let this man take it … without a fight,” Steve Mauro, the seller, told The Associated Press.
The 43-year-old had arranged to sell a Rolex watch for $8000 on Friday in front of his home in Massapequa Park, according to ABC News. When the would-be buyer showed up in a grey-colored SUV at the location, he asked Mauro to approach for the money. Instead of paying him the promised $8000, the thief locked the doors after taking the Rolex and started speeding away. Realizing he was being robbed, Mauro jumped on the hood when the scammer reversed his Honda SUV but was thrown off as the driver fled with the luxury watch. The incident was also captured on a security camera.
Coincidentally, police officers patrolling the area were nearby and saw the SUV knocking Mauro down to the ground. “I picked myself up, jumped on the hood and then he took me for a ride. I was tossed on my front lawn, launched off of the hood. I told the cop, ‘go get the guy,'” Mauro said. However, it was too late, and the watch thief had already managed to flee by then. Mauro was treated at the scene for minor cuts to his hand, elbow, and knee. Police are now looking for the Honda, which reportedly had Connecticut license plates.
Describing himself as a seasoned Facebook Marketplace seller, Mauro said the scammer was very convincing, and he didn’t expect foul play. “I can always sniff out a scammer from the very beginning and this guy didn’t come across that way at all,” the seller said. “Large items like this, I probably wouldn’t do it out of my house. That was probably my mistake.” Robbing high-end watches is on the rise all over the world, and not even celebrities have been spared from this growing menace. A few months back, Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz chased down thieves on foot to retrieve his $350,000 Richard Mille that was stolen from him in Milan.
