A young woman was left so traumatized that she moved away after a terrifying encounter with a ‘creepy’ man who inquired about purchasing an old television she was selling.
Tania, from Melbourne, gave her address to a potential buyer who claimed he was interested in purchasing the item she listed on Facebook Marketplace in March.
But when he showed up on her doorstep, he seemed to show no interest in the television and started making unwanted advances towards Tania and her housemate.
She shared a video that went viral on TikTok in which she candidly talked about her experience and warned others to be careful.
“Be careful on Marktplaats… If you absolutely need someone to come to your house to pick up what you’re selling, don’t be home alone,” Tania warned.
Tania said she wants to warn others to be careful as the encounter left her so traumatized that she eventually moved out
She recalled her own experience after receiving a response from a man disguised as a real buyer.
‘I told him, “Cool, please come and have a look.” “He sounded like he was really excited… he was kind of coming to pick it up,” she said.
“Luckily I was home with my roommate, so we moved the TV outside so he didn’t come in.”
When the man showed up at her home, Tania said she immediately realized that he showed little interest in the television and that the situation quickly became awkward.
“He just looked at the TV a few times… And he said, ‘Cool, cool yeah…’ and then he switches to us and he starts saying, ‘So you girls smoke?’ she said.
‘We’re just like him: ‘What do you mean?’ He says, “You know, you guys smoke? You guys wanna come in and hang out?”
Tania recalled feeling “quite strange” and asked the man to leave.
Despite this, he started asking inappropriate questions.
“He just said, ‘Are you guys open to trying new things?’ she remembered.
“My roommate and I were just staring at each other, we’re communicating with our eyes, and we’re like, ‘Okay, this person is fucking weird. Goodbye.’
The pair pretended their ‘partners’ were coming over in five minutes hoping he would leave, but the man’s response left them speechless.
“He said, ‘Is anyone really coming or are you just trying to get rid of me?'” Tania said.
“Then he says, ‘Okay, are you sure you don’t want to mess around tonight?’
“How fucking creepy is that?”
Tania recalled her ‘scary’ experience selling an old TV on Facebook Marketplace to a stranger who seemed to be genuinely inquiring
Tania explained that they had to be “really convincing” for the men to leave them alone.
“My roommate got quite loud and started raising her voice. She says “I think you should go mate if you’re not interested in buying the TV because we have plans for tonight”. “She was strict and assertive,” she said.
‘He wasn’t interested in TV, he just wanted to do other things, obviously.
“It was super creepy, it was pretty scary, especially because it was cold and dark outside and some random old guy comes to your door and keeps asking you to smoke with him and mess with him, and insinuating that he’s going to take your house enters – so scary.’
Tania said she was “so scared” after the experience that she deleted everything from Facebook Marketplace and gave the TV to a friend.
She explained that she is speaking out in the hopes that no one else will experience something similar.
‘I was so traumatized. I even moved because I thought I saw that man’s car in front of our house a few times. It really scared me,” she said. 7NEWS.
‘Please never give anyone your address. It is best to meet in public places if people want to buy or sell there.
“It’s a scary time out there – just be safe.”