2023-07-04 21:46:03
It’s a new iPhone sold in packaging or “never worn” sneakers. On the main resale platforms between individuals, dozens, even hundreds of ads have raised suspicion in recent days, while many shops in shopping centers and downtown have been looted since the death of Nahel in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), June 27. Do we find on Leboncoin, Vinted and others items that were stolen from these stores on the sidelines of the riots?
On Leboncoin, this Monday afternoon, there were almost 40,000 ads for “sneakers” sold in “new with tag” condition out of nearly 350,000 ads. On Vinted, it’s the same thing: similar ads abound. How many pairs of shoes were actually looted from stores? In Paris (where the window of a Nike store was completely destroyed), but also in the Parisian suburbs, in Marseilles (Bouches-du-Rhône), in Grenoble (Isère) or in several cities in France, such scenes could be observed.
Questioned by Le Parisien, neither Leboncoin nor Vinted wanted to tell us if they had observed in recent days an increase in the number of listings for products sold new. “Our algorithms are set up in such a way that suspicious user behavior, whether on account creations or on ads, is limited”, indicates the first platform. “Stolen items are among the prohibited items that members cannot sell on Vinted”, specifies the second, recalling that it is possible to report suspicious ads in order to have them removed.
Platforms available to law enforcement
“We take this matter seriously. Our teams are constantly mobilized to detect and counter new malicious behavior, ”also continues Vinted, in a press release sent to Le Parisien. Leboncoin, like the second-hand giant, also specify that they are available to the police to send them information.
It is therefore difficult to know the importance of the phenomenon and whether it is truly widespread. In Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), where the Lacoste store was looted, there are, for example, no recent advertisements for the brand’s products on Leboncoin, within a radius of 10 km around (it is impossible to filter according to a location on Vinted). Same thing in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) for products from the K-Way brand, whose store had also been emptied. Provence claims to have seen more ads for new products emerge in recent days, most often via newly created accounts.
Could some thieves wait a while before selling their goods? “I have broken with my family, I have no more money, I have only eaten rice for a month, I wanted to resell these clothes to pay debts”, tried to defend himself, in Marseille, a son of a diplomatic adviser who was arrested after stealing four pairs of glasses from an optician and jeans from a Hugo Boss store in Marseille, according to an audience told by L’Obs. And not everything happens online: in videos published in recent days, we have seen young people offering for sale on the sly bottles of alcohol that have just been stolen from a grocery store.
#Urban #riots #objects #stolen #looting #resold #Leboncoin #Vinted