A dad has issued a warning after a man who came to his home to buy a PlayStation 5 ran away with it without paying.
The games console had been valued at £500 and listed on Facebook Marketplace by Jamie Maloney last month.
He had decided to sell the console to help his family get through the cost of living crunch and had agreed to sell it to a buyer who claimed to be called 'John Smith', Leicestershire Live reports.
However, when Jamie greeted the buyer at his home in Hamilton in Leicester, Mr Smith made a run for it as soon as he was given the console.
He said: "The whole thing has left us shaken and upset, so I am desperate to spread awareness of these criminals and how people should be extremely careful when selling locally on any apps like Facebook Marketplace.
"People need to know the new modern dangers of inviting people to your home for collection and I hope my story can prevent it happening to somebody else - something I wish I was more cautious of before I listed my item."
The 27-year-old said he had been using the Marketplace function on Facebook for many years and had positive experiences with in-person transactions.
He said: "My personal rule is to never do postage outside of protective apps like eBay, so whenever I have sold an item on an app like Facebook Marketplace - I always selected local collection or the drop-off option.
"This was to prevent those common digital postage fraud and scams you always hear about with stolen cards."
He had listed the item so the money could go towards overdue bills and stocking up with food.
He continued: "The last two years have been very tough for a lot of us and I made the hard decision to sell my new shiny PS5 console as a last resort to make sure me, my partner and daughter had enough money to pay some overdue bills and stock up our food - with the hopes of having a bit extra to put towards the next month's rent.
"My plan was to replace the console in the far future when I felt more financially stable and it had more games of interest to justify me owning one at this point."
Jamie arranged the collection with the man, whom he now believes, must have hacked another person's Facebook account as part of the scam.
Prior to the sale, he had examined the account and was satisfied it contained apparently legitimate posts going back a year.
He said: "Since it happened, I've gone back and the Facebook account seems genuine, so my only thought it he must have hacked someone else's account to make the purchase.
"I had spoken to him all throughout the day and had rushed home to get it cleaned, boxed and ready to go.
"I gave them the option of cash or bank transfer as I use mobile banking so I can check the cash is there right away and it's never been a concern in the past."
It was raining heavily when the man arrived, so Jamie said he invited him to stand by the front door.
He said: "Me, Hollie and Emily had just started eating dinner. He said hello to us all, gave us a friendly speech about how he was going out for a family meal later.
"He even started looking at my daughter then telling me how the console was a treat for his own kids, even though it was more than what he wanted to pay.
"I showed him the PS5 and explained I was selling it due to financial difficulties, which he claimed to understand."
However, Jamie believes the man used a fake banking app when he pulled out his phone to transfer the money over.
He said: "He wanted to do mobile banking, which was fine, so I checked the details were correct over his shoulder.
"He clicked 'send money' and showed me it going out his account on his end and, just like that and before I had time to whip out my phone to check the funds had come through, he had caught me off guard and had bolted it out the door.
"He was gone. I had no time to act or even realise what had just happened until it was too late."
The father-of-one said the Facebook account used was then deleted but he reported the incident to Leicestershire Police straight away.
A spokesman for the force said: "On Friday 18 February, a report was received concerning the theft of a games console in Bramble Close, Leicester.
"The owner of the console stated that between 6.30pm and 7pm the previous evening, a man had visited his address with the intention of buying it.
"However, the console was taken and the man ran off without making payment.
"Inquiries to establish the identity of the suspect are continuing."
Jamie said he is grateful no harm had come to his family, however the incident has left him shaken.
He said: "I feel like such a fool. I have always felt invincible to these situations and felt I would know if I was being scammed but I was very wrong.
"Thieves are getting good and still attacking those struggling even after the last two unfortunate years we have gone through with the pandemic.
"It hurts my heart that I let a criminal in my house, where my beautiful family was sitting eating dinner and it breaks me knowing he could look at my daughter pull such a stunt.
"It's not the fact here he stole a PlayStation 5 from me, it's the fact in reality he stole food from a three-year-old's plate."
The man is described to be white, 6ft with ginger hair and beard at medium length with an Irish accent.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact the force via 101 with details.
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