Burnaby RCMP are investigating after a man trying to sell three pairs of expensive sneakers was ambushed and robbed.
The robbery occurred in the area of 13th Avenue and 15th Street on Thursday, police said.
Chris Saturino thought he was meeting a single buyer he'd met on Facebook, who was interested in purchasing some Air Jordan shoes.
He'd agreed to meet at a location the buyer selected, but the man showed up with backup in the form of four friends.
"I had an instinct in myself that something was not going right, so I left my car on, my door open," he told CTV Vancouver the next day.
They asked to see the shoes, and Saturino brought them out one pair at a time, he said.
He asked for the money, saying he needed to leave, but the men failed to produce any cash. Then one of them, who'd been trying on a pair, ran off with the shoes.
The person Saturino had been talking to said, "Sorry, man" and walked away. The group ended up stealing three pairs of the shoes worth more than $1,000.
Saturino said he was scared, and knew he couldn't take on five people if he tried to fight.
He got in his car and shot some video on his cellphone of the thieves walking away, hoping it could identify the thieves.
But then one of the thieves started to pull something out of his belt, Saturino said, so he got scared and drove off, thinking the man had a weapon.
The theft solicited a major police response because Saturino reported that one of them may have had a knife or another type of weapon.
Two of the three pairs were found by investigators, but the suspects and the third pair have not been located.
Police said the theft could be looked at as a lesson for the anyone selling items to strangers online.
"Fortunately no one was hurt, but what we can draw from this is anytime you do a transaction over the internet you need to know who the buyer is and do it in a more public place," RCMP Staff Sgt. John Buis said.
"Make sure you have other people around you as well."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Scott Roberts
