Words by: Georgina Young
The pandemic and rising energy prices have tightened all of our purse strings, forcing many of us to see what they can get on the secondhand market for their beloved items.
With the ability to purchase in cash with those close by, the Facebook Marketplace has become an increasingly popular place to buy and sell used items. Here, people are hoping to get a good deal by cutting out any middle men. This is in fact the case for many, as thousands of secondhand goods are successfully sold and exchanged on Facebook every day.
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People feel more secure exchanging in person. It gives the buyer time to inspect the product, and the seller time to count the cash. However, this doesn't always mean success. Often people can be distracted or flustered during the exchange, or only notice that a crucial error has been made after the fact.
This is precisely what happened to one woman in Wiltshire who was trying to help her partner sell his Xbox Series X. As reported by This Is Wiltshire, a man who was caught on CCTV was seen waiting and shuffling through a stack of bank notes shortly before the exchange. With the agreed price set at £465, the man was carrying with him 23 fake £20 notes, alongside one real fiver.
"I wondered if he was dodgy, but when I spoke to him on the phone he seemed genuine. Like he was from London, a bit of a geezer. I looked at the notes afterwards and something didn't seem right. The bank confirmed they were fake, as there was a missing hologram and they all had the same serial number."
The woman hadn't noticed the bank notes were a forgery until after she tried to deposit them into the bank. At this point the police were informed and the counterfeit notes detained by The Bank Of England. So far the man seen in the video has not been found, but the police say they are eager to speak with him about the incident.
Featured Image Credit: Wiltshire Police, MicrosoftTopics: Xbox Series X, Microsoft, No-Article-Matching