Grandmother is hospitalised after Facebook marketplace sale goes terribly wrong
A grandmother has been hospitalized after being scammed during a Facebook sale, leaving her foot crushed.
Rebekah Streader, a Coles worker from Shepparton in Victoria, put her beloved Holden ClubSport up for sale because she desperately needed money to keep a roof over her family’s heads.
The single mother told me 9 News After listing her vehicle on the site, she quickly received messages from an interested man.
After organizing a test drive, the man came to her house, which was answered by Mrs Streader’s ‘Ring’ doorbell.
The store employee handed the potential buyer the keys when he asked to drive the car, but before she could get into the passenger seat, he locked the car doors.
Grandmother Rebekah Streader listed her Holden ClubSport on Facebook Marketplace, but was run over by a man posing as a buyer who drove away with her car
The man quickly responded to the Coles employee’s ad and asked for a test drive (pictured) with the interaction captured by her doorbell’s CCTV
Despite the grandmother begging him to stop, the man ran over her foot before driving away.
The injury went undetected by Ms. Streader’s Ring doorbell, but was observed by her 15-year-old son.
“I banged on the window and asked him to stop because this car was something I bought years ago and I thought, ‘I can’t lose it.’ I can’t afford to lose it,” Ms Streader said.
The grandmother underwent two operations after the incident, during which she suffered a crushed foot.
Mrs Streader has also been told she will not be able to walk for months.
The grandmother did not want to sell her car but felt she had no choice because she needed the money to put a roof over her family’s heads
The Shepperton woman is now pleading with Facebook to increase security.
‘Facebook needs a big change. It is too easy for people to get ripped off or scammed,” she said.
The grandmother believes the man used a fake Facebook profile because she could find no trace of him.
Ms Streader said the man was about 170cm tall, with a medium build and a goatee.
The police are investigating the incident.
Friends have started a GoFundMe to help the grandmother financially.
