Darien police have taken matters into their own hands, designating their public parking lot as a safe exchange site in an effort to curb increasingly dangerous scams and even deadly encounters over online purchases.
Buyers and sellers from tag sale sites and social media apps like Facebook Marketplace looking to make swaps can meet in this monitored area, located on the south side of the Connecticut department’s police station, which is under 24-hour video surveillance.
Darien Police Chief Jeremiah Marron said although there was no local incident that sparked the idea, Darien police would hear of incidents both locally and regionally where people were being robbed and even injured during transactions.
“I see safe transactions occurring in our lot weekly and during the warmer months, almost every day,” Marron told The Record. “Car tires, baby items, furniture, clothes, lawn equipment, ladders and even a motorcycle are some of the things I have seen bought and sold here.”
While the spot is nothing new — it was created by Darien police a decade ago — Marron said it started receiving more attention once the department posted about it on Instagram over the summer.
It quickly gained popularity on social media with the alarming rise in scams and robberies related to often dangerous Facebook Marketplace-type exchanges across the U.S.
Most notably, an off-duty NYPD officer was gunned down during a robbery attempt in Brooklyn when he tried to buy a car in response to a Facebook Marketplace scam in 2023.
In May, police in Waterbury, Conn., were investigating a string of robberies related to Facebook Marketplace deals where unsuspecting victims expecting to sell their electronics were met by armed assailants.
And Rye police arrested a Mount Vernon man, last September, for selling a stolen Mercedes for $24,000 to an unsuspecting buyer from Mount Pleasant through Facebook Marketplace. The bogus transaction took place in the Shell gas station located on Boston Post Road.
It is unclear how many of these police-monitored safe exchange sites are up and running in the region.
In Rye, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Kopy said the police department doesn’t have enough space for a permanent site like that. But Koby said city residents are welcome to use the police station lobby as a public place to make a sale.
He claimed that internet scams occur “every day” in Rye although most go unreported to authorities, Kopy said, while urging residents to remain vigilant when making online exchanges.
“We encourage anybody who has a concern about an item that they’re either purchasing or selling and they’re concerned for their safety to contact the police department,” he added.
