National Manager Prevention Superintendent Eric Tibbott:

At Christmas time, we can sometimes receive an unwanted gift, spend too much, and then regret our purchases later.

If you plan to sell your unwanted items, make sure you take care when doing so.

Police recommend the following safety tips when choosing a place to meet:

• Meet in a public, well-lit area or consider only trading in daylight
hours.
• Trade near, or in front of, a known/working CCTV camera, in busy
foot-traffic or perhaps by a Police station.
• Don’t go to the transaction alone.
• Make sure a friend or family member is aware of the transaction details.
• Don't go into someone else’s house, and do not allow them into yours.
• Be extra cautious when buying or selling valuable items such as vehicles and jewellery.
• Only use cash to complete your transactions and never deposit money into a person’s account without receiving the item first.
• Trust your instincts, if it sounds like a scam, it probably is.
• If somebody is not willing to come to a Safe Trade Zone, it is probably
not a legitimate transaction.

Call 111 in an emergency. We would rather attend to prevent a crime
happening, than attend after an offence has occurred.

So remember, if something illegal is happening now, call 111. If it’s
already happened you can provide information via the Police non-emergency number 105.

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