Bike-buying snafu shows trouble with online classifieds

A Moncton woman was reunited with her stolen bicycle Wednesday afternoon after another case of buyer beware for internet consumers.

Julie Leblanc left her garage door open one night, and the next day, she realized someone had taken her Trek 750.

"I was very disappointed that the bike was gone. I was also a bit disturbed that somebody had entered into our garage to take it," she said.

"At the end of the day, you try not to get too upset about those things but it's hard not to."

After the bicycle was taken from the garage, it was sold to me.

It's another case of buyer beware. Looking for a deal on a second-hand bike, I took to the online classified site Kijiji and posted a wanted ad, detailing what I needed.

A man from Moncton called a few days later. He was willing to drive the bike to Fredericton from Moncton and sell it to me for $200.

I paid and rode away, only to find another ad on Kijiji a few days later.

It was Leblanc, looking for her bicycle. Along with the ad was a familiar picture.

I called her and the serial numbers matched up.

My bike was actually hers.

Signs of trouble

Online classifieds provide the perfect avenue to sell stolen goods and it's easy to be fooled.

Brian Mckeown of Radical Edge, a bike shop in Fredericton, says I should have realized something was wrong when I negotiated the price.

"The bike we have here was around $1,000 approximately and then with the accessories maybe another $100 or so on top of that," says Mckeown.

For such an expensive bicycle to be up for only $200 online, something has to be wrong.

The seller also should have been a clue.

"This is an older adult bike so if you're getting this from a 20-something-year-old, chances are there should be a little bit of a red light," he said.

Mckeown says I'm not the only one to make a mistake.

Leblanc should have made sure her garage door was down. He also recommends a sturdy lock to keep theft from happening in the first place.

Increase of stolen goods sold online

Fredericton Police Const. Danielle Carmichael said bike theft is fairly common.

"Obviously when the summer months roll around and a lot more people start using them for transportation you see a spike in those types of incidents," she said.

But the issue isn't restricted to bicycles.

Stolen electronics and other household items are also commonly sold online as legitimate second-hand items. The problem is growing.

"You're seeing an increase in transactions taking place on Kijiji and Craigslist. You have to be aware of it.  And again, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is," says Carmichael.

Luckily for Leblanc, she kept her serial number so the bike wasn't completely lost.

This was a good deal gone bad, but it could have been worse. Stolen bikes from this province have been shipped to Montreal or even further.

Leblanc's Trek 750, a gift from her family for her 30th birthday, was found close to home.

"I used to bike a lot to work and we bike a lot around home so it was kind of like a little hint from my family to stay healthy and active a little bit," she says.

Leblanc will be heeding her family's advice now that she's been reunited with her ride.

"I'm glad to have it back and hopefully I'm going to keep that hint a bit more and be a bit more active."