Be smart when selling a car online…
We feel like not everyone has received the message we keep spreading that thieves really want your car, including when you’re trying to sell it. A man in Cincinnati, Ohio learned that lesson the hard way when a supposed buyer took his Dodge Challenger Scat Pack at gunpoint. Now the victim of this carjacking is trying to help warn others about the potential dangers.
Check out another story of a car sale turning into a carjacking here.
Nicholas Suiter, the victim, did an interview with a local news station and told the reporter he was perhaps a little too trusting and not cautious enough. The old saying is familiarity breeds a lack of caution, which seems to be the case here. After all, Suiter says he’s sold plenty of other things through Facebook Marketplace, so he didn’t have his guard up after listing the Scat Pack there.
While he didn’t get into details, which we wish he would’ve, Suiter says there were some “red flags” about the prospective buyer. You need to be watching for signs someone’s intentions are less than pure. Instead, this victim did the thing we would never tell anyone to do: he gave the prospective buyer his home address and met him there.
Instead of an interested buyer showing up, two men demanded the keys to the muscle car. One pulled out a gun to show they meant business. At that point, Suiter really had no other choice but to hand over the keys. One of the men left in the Mopar, the other driving the vehicle they arrived in.
Suiter immediately called police and officers were able to track down the suspect with the gun, arresting Christopher Sanders-Clemons. Suiter was also able to track the location of his Dodge Challenger Scat Pack, which was by then in Dayton. Police recovered the car and returned it to him. However, the second suspect is still loose.
It sounds like Suiter had a tracker or two in his Mopar, so that was smart. We tell people to meet in a busy public place when selling a car. Many police departments don’t mind if you meet in the station parking lot where there are plenty of cameras and cops. That’s about the last place criminals want to be. If you’re selling on Facebook Marketplace, it’s a good idea to check out the other person’s account, especially noting how long they’ve had it. Also, let someone know who you’re meeting to show the car, just in case.
Source: WLWT
Image via WLWT
