Online resale or e-commerce sites make it easy to buy and sell items to your neighbors. Log on to Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or Nextdoor and you’ll see used KitchenAid stand mixers, Red Wings tickets, furniture, and more.

The websites are very popular and growing rapidly. Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016 and by April 2021, more than one billion users were visiting Facebook Marketplace every month, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Most transactions go as planned and both parties move on after exchanging the item for payment. It’s easy to feel comfortable meeting someone with a profile picture and location nearby, like on Marketplace.

But these encounters also turn people into sitting ducks with money, vulnerable to theft, robbery or, on rare occasions, homicide.

Last December, several residents of Southfield were robbed while trying to sell PlayStation 5 video game consoles. According to police reports, the suspects appeared to be paying via CashApp, but while the seller waited for payment, the suspects stole the article and drove off. In some cases, the suspects have insinuated having a firearm. Southfield Police arrested the suspects in January.

Detroit police were called on Tuesday after two suspects hijacked a seller of a pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes at gunpoint and forced him and his two young children out of the SUV . A suspect was shot dead by police after he allegedly tried to run over officers and is currently hospitalized.

Although rare, some encounters become fatal. A recent investigation by ProPublica identified 13 cases of homicide following encounters on Facebook Marketplace since the start of the pandemic. In one such case, a woman was allegedly stabbed by a man selling a refrigerator on Facebook Marketplace outside of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

For years, police departments have recommended residents use monitored “secure transaction areas” in and around police stations when meeting for an organized sale online.

The safest place is inside the police department lobby, where an officer is stationed at the front desk and can serve as a witness to the transaction, Southfield Police Deputy Chief Jeffrey Jagielski said.

Police station concourses are public spaces, and many departments, including Southfield, Farmington Hills, and Detroit, designate specific safe transaction areas within the concourse.

At a minimum, Facebook recommends meeting in a well-lit area, bringing a charged cell phone, recording the local authorities’ phone number, live-sharing your location with a friend or family member, and Avoid carrying large sums of cash.

However, even the secure transaction areas directly across from the police station are not fail-safe. One of the PS5 thefts took place in the Southfield police car park.

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Jagielski said they haven’t seen an increase in robberies or robberies related to transactional encounters, aside from the recent spate of PS5 robberies carried out by the now arrested Southfield suspects.

Still, police are urging residents to exercise caution when encountering strangers and encouraging the use of station concourses for transactions.

“The police department reminds everyone to focus on their personal safety and always trust their instincts,” Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King said in a statement.