Another theft from someone trying to sell their belongings online

In this incident a seller advertised an item on Gumtree and met the ‘buyer’.

However, when he met the person who was supposed to buy the item they stole it instead.

Since January 14 there have been four similar incidents, all of which have seen sellers of items on Gumtree being hoodwinked by persons contacting them to buy their items.

In the vast majority of these cases, the sellers have been asked to meet the buyers in Three Cherry Trees Lane or nearby estates in Hemel Hempstead.

A police spokesman said: “If either you or any friends or family use selling sites be extremely cautious when making arrangements to hand over items when there has been no advance payment. Try and arrange collection from a genuine address rather than being given just the name of a road in which to meet.

“Do some research before you agree on a location. Check that the place is not isolated. Consider meeting in a more public place where there is CCTV, such as a shopper’s car park, when there are likely to be people about, or near to a local police station or bank.”

If you have information on this theft, call 101.