Twin Cities man warning of Facebook Marketplace scams after getting car stolen
MINNEAPOLIS — A Twin Cities man hoping to buy a new vacuum had his vehicle stolen during a Facebook Marketplace exchange Friday in Minneapolis.
"I was looking for Dysons and I found one that I was like, okay, that's a good deal," Jesse Jeanetta said.
Jeanetta is no stranger to Facebook Marketplace. So, when he found a deal on a Dyson vacuum, he grabbed $350 in cash and drove to meet the seller in Minneapolis.
"First he looked at me and he was like, you're a really nice guy," he said.
Jeanetta said the man met him outside Bryant Lake Bowl and asked him to follow him to the apartments around the corner. That's when things took a turn.
"It feels like it happened so fast and so slow because I could have easily jumped in the car before him," Jeanetta said.
Jeanetta said the would-be seller gave him a bin that he assumed contained the vacuum. As he was getting ready to load it into his Honda Pilot, the man jumped in the driver's seat and drove off with Jeanetta's vehicle, cash, backpack and some furniture, leaving him with a bin full of useless items.
"He had my house keys, he had my address. He had everything," Jeanetta said.
It forced him to change the locks at his North St. Paul home.
Jeanetta said his main motivation for getting the word out about what happened is to hopefully keep others from becoming a victim.
"Don't get comfortable. When I first started going on Marketplace I was much more aware of what I was doing," Jeanetta said. "Be careful because that could have easily been my last night here."
Jeanetta's advice is to do Facebook Marketplace transactions in a well-lit public place and during daylight hours.
He's still hoping to get his car back and Minneapolis police are currently investigating.
