HARTFORD -- There is a renewed warning to anyone looking to buy or sell something online.
There are many apps these days to help people do this like Facebook and OfferUp and LetGo.
Criminals are also using those apps to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. Hartford Police Department said four of those criminals are off the streets now.
Too many times, police said people think they know a person really well since they have been communicating with them through text or email until it takes a turn for the worst.
That is why there is a green sign outside of the Hartford Police Department letting people know to make their transactions there in case anything happens.
“If somebody does not want to meet at the police department to conduct a transaction site, end it right there. End the conversation. It doesn’t matter what rapport you think you made with them over text communication, emails,” said Lt. Paul Cicero of the Hartford Police Department.
Just last year alone, police made over a dozen arrests and closed up to 20 federal and local cases.
Just this week, an undercover sting led police to arrest four men.
“Quick money but it takes them a lot of time as well – they’re setting up the actual robbery, the location, they’re scouting out the areas,” added Cicero.
On Wednesday night, a woman called police and said there was an armed robbery on Asylum Avenue. When police went undercover, a suspect with a BB gun approached and that is when he was arrested.
Three other men were arrested for first degree conspiracy to commit robbery – Daniel Marciano, Kenneth McCaskill, Said Lubinsha and Kadeem Walker.
Three of them live in Hartford and one is from East Hartford.
Police said luckily, nobody was hurt in these recent cases.
“People have been carjacked, they’ve been robbed, they’ve been assaulted, they’ve been shot,” added Cicero. “Trust your gut, trust your instinct get out of there.”
Police are emphasizing if the person you are meeting does not want to meet at a safe transaction site, it is a red flag to cancel the meetup.