10 Mar 2015

Online trader robbed at gunpoint - police

8:12 pm on 10 March 2015

The police are warning people to take care after a would-be online purchaser was robbed at gunpoint.

They said the man had answered an advertisement to buy a motorbike.

But when he got to the house where the deal was supposed to take place, the police said he was threatened with a gun by two men and made to lie on the ground.

The men stole the purchase money for the bike from him, and then fled in a car driven by a third man.

The incident took place last night in the Waikato settlement of Gordonton.

The police said people should not carry cash with them when they go to make purchases organised online, and should use a bank payment form instead.

They should also keep a record of the vendor's details.