Designated locations will make shopping from stranger’s safer

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – While buying items from Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist may get you the best deal, shoppers need to beware of the dangers that come with purchasing items from strangers.

“With technology today, people are out here looking for the deal of the day,” Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said.

Over the past year, online shopping has become more prevalent and popular.

One of the first places they go for goods is Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Although these sites may give shoppers a better deal, law enforcement said to proceed with caution.

“A lot of times, people are meeting individuals in areas that are kind of unsafe. And we’ve had some incidents where transactions have occurred and actual robberies have occurred to the individuals trying to make the purchase,” Sheriff Hawkins said.

Amory Police Investigator Andy Long said shoppers need to make sure a seller is legit and can meet in a public location.

“Short of it being large items, there should be no reason with, no problem with meeting somewhere else other than on their turf and you sure don’t want to bring them to your house to sell you something unless you personally know them,” Long said.

Lowndes County Sheriff Hawkins says his agency will have a dedicated space in the next several weeks.

“We already have the video surveillance in place and we designated a location in our parking lot that we’re going to designate for that transaction area,” Sheriff said.

“If you’re in a town that doesn’t have the designated areas, think of what’s open to the public and maybe even videos such as your sheriff’s department’s parking lot,” Long said. “If there is a crime that happens, you can say ‘Hey, I was at this parking lot’ and the investigators will be able to maybe go pull that footage of what happened.”

Whether you plan on using these drop-off locations or not, police say there is power in numbers. Always bring a friend with you when making a transaction.

“It’s just like the fish world. If they can get that little fish by them self, they’re a little more comfortable going after him. If you have company, usually that will kind of hinder them,” Long added.

Investigator Long says the Amory Police Department plan on making a designated safe location outside their precinct within the year.