By Mitchell Clarke
A young Pakenham woman – who had her phone stolen by a thug following a Facebook sale – is warning people of the dangers associated with selling goods to strangers.
Megan, surname withheld, met up with a man who expressed interest in her phone, at a random address in Pakenham just before 4.30pm on Saturday 25 July.
“I took my brother with me, just in case he was going to jump me, but my brother stayed in the car,” she recalled.
“I mean, me and my mum were joking about it, but we didn’t actually think it’d happen.”
The 20 year old met the man – who she described as about 18 years old and of African appearance.
She said there were no alarm bells and the man didn’t display any signs of aggression.
“He was checking the serial number to see if the phone was authentic, I assume, but I always had my hand on the phone,” she explained.
“He asked if my phone had been reset – which I now realise means that the phone can’t be tracked – so when I said it had been, he just grabbed the phone, turned around and ran off down the track.
“I was just stunned. I kind of just looked at my brother because I didn’t know what to do. I was just kind of like ‘oh wow, I didn’t think that was actually going to happen’ because he didn’t come off aggressive at all.”
Megan said the man’s Facebook profile didn’t have any photos of him, but had been active since 2016.
“I checked out his account before meeting with him. It looked private but you could tell it wasn’t made just yesterday,” she said.
“We actually had a mutual friend, and that mutual friend had a heap of other friends with him, but no one has any idea who he actually is.”
The young McDonald’s employee is now without $800, at a time where she desperately needed it most.
“I’m not on JobKeeper, so that’s a lot of money for me. I mean, I’m paying rent, car rego, insurance and I have two pets to look after,” she said.
“It’s just a kick in the butt with everything that’s going on at the moment. I don’t know why you would want to do this to someone and bring them down even more.”
By telling her story, Megan hopes it’ll inform others of potential red flags.
“Looking back, it definitely seemed like he knew what he was doing,” she said.
“I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what I went through.
“If you’re going to sell a phone, meet up at a police station and do a thorough background check. Don’t assume anything because you have mutual friends. Don’t believe anyone.”
The man was wearing faded track clothes and had a diamond stud in his left ear.
The incident has been reported to Pakenham police station.
