Columbia woman robbed after making an online-initiated transaction

The Columbia Police Department is encouraging people to use the department’s lobby when making transactions they initiated online.

ABC 17 News spoke with a Columbia woman who said she was recently robbed at gunpoint after making a transaction with someone she encountered online.

The Columbia Police Department says criminals are continuing to use online marketplaces to target victims. A majority of the transactions involve electronics.

The Police Department encourages the public to use its lobby because someone is always present and video surveillance surrounds the area making the exchange safer.

Police say if you sense hesitancy with the buyer when you indicate to meet inside the Columbia Police Department lobby, the buyer’s intentions are not genuine.

Tasha Hannigan, a frequent online exchanger, said she thought her Saturday night meetup on Worley Street was just going to be like any other online transaction.

“I always try to go somewhere public, but I also have had people come to my home. I’ve met people at their homes,” Hannigan said.

Hannigan said she agreed to meet with someone through Facebook’s online exchange feature to sell her iPad. The two agreed to meet, but once she got out of her car, things took a turn.

“I saw him in my rearview mirror, so I got out of my car and I said, ‘Hey, are you the guy interested’ and he walked over. He had a gun,” Hannigan said.

She wishes she had known about meeting at the Police Department’s lobby.

According to police, similar incidents in which sales have gone wrong have happened about once a month since October.

Police say if you aren’t able to make it inside the lobby to do an exchange, you want to meet during the day, in a public place. Don’t go alone, take your cellphone with you, meet in a known area and don’t go to someone’s home.

The online exchange zone is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Weapon sales are not allowed.