The La Mesa Police Department (LMPD) is following its neighbor’s lead in providing its community with designated zones for buyers and sellers finalizing online marketplace transactions.
LMPD announced Wednesday that it will designate two parking stalls its headquarters, located at 8085 University Avenue, as a “Transaction Zone”.
Buyers and sellers trading goods on classified websites like Craigslist and apps like Shopify and OfferUp can meet face to face in the Transaction Zone to better protect themselves from theft and fraud.
Last month a woman was robbed at gunpoint at a park in Chollas Creek by a man she thought was meeting her to buy her high-end electronic equipment. Countless others are victimized by deceptive online postings every day.
A few days before the woman was robbed in Chollas Creek, the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) announced it would start providing Designated Online Transaction Spaces, or DOTS, at the department’s Northeastern Division station at 13396 Salmon River Road in Rancho Pensaquitos.
SDPD recommends making use of DOTS on weekdays during normal business hours.