Selling or buying a cell phone through pre-arranged deals over the Internet can turn bad.
Two recent incidents - in Roseville and Sacramento - revealed that meet-ups to make the deals can be fraught with danger.
Roseville police reported that Sunday night a man who had offered his iPhone for sale on Craigslist arranged to meet someone at Sunrise Avenue and Cirby Way in a parking lot.
When the meeting occurred, the man who said he wanted to but the phone snatched it from the seller and they fought. The thief's companion pulled out a handgun and the pair then fled in a vehicle.
The robbers were described as black men in their 20s. The first was 6 feet 4 inches tall and 190 pounds with black dreadlocks, tattoos on his arms and behind his ear. The other robber was described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 160 pounds with short hair in a buzz cut.
They fled in a red, late-model hatchback driven by a Hispanic woman.
On the same night, in the City of Sacramento, somebody responded to an Internet ad to buy a cell phone. The buyer also met his eventual robber in a parking lot, this time in the 4400 block of Commerce Circle near Highway 160 and Exposition Boulevard.
The presumed seller of the cell phone asked to see the money before the purchase. When the buyer showed his cash, the thief grabbed the money and then assaulted the victim.
The suspect fled to a getaway car when bystanders started to approach. No description was listed of the robber in a police activity log.
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