Leboncoin: seller kidnapped and assaulted during a sale
Three men and a woman who was pregnant at the time of the incident kidnapped, restrained and raped a man. The assailants attacked the man, who was selling a car engine on Leboncoin, because they thought he had ripped them off. The three men and the woman, who were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 10 years, appeared before the Assize Court. A look back at the murky affair of a transaction on Leboncoin, which turned into a nightmare in May 2017.
Sentenced to up to ten years in prison for a second-hand engine
On the night of 22 to 23 October 2020, four people were convicted in the Assize Court of kidnapping and raping a man in the Yvelines department in 2017. The three men, aged between 22 and 24, will spend the next ten years behind bars for a second-hand engine sold for €300 on Leboncoin. Their accomplice, a 22-year-old woman who was pregnant at the time of the crime, received a 3-year suspended sentence.
It all began when a man, the victim in this case, posted an ordinary ad for the sale of a second-hand engine on the Leboncoin website. It was a car engine, a Volkswagen Golf, that the future victim wanted to sell for €300. An interested party responded to the man's ad via the Leboncoin.fr website and wanted to meet him for a hand-delivered transaction. Three men and a pregnant woman turned up at the meeting point for the exchange. The transaction went well, and they bought the Volkswagen Golf engine for the amount indicated in the advert. But it was at the moment of purchase that the four people threatened the seller if they ever realised that it was a scam.
The transaction that turned into a nightmare
The seller did not really take this into account and went on with his life. Six days after the transaction, a woman got in touch with him on the phone and said she was interested in other parts that the man was selling on Leboncoin. Without asking any questions, the future victim went to the meeting point indicated by the young woman, with a friend of his. They both waited in the car for the young woman to arrive. It was then that they saw the three men from the previous motor sale arrive in a Clio. They immediately attacked the salesman, trying to get him out of his car and beating him up.
The friend who had accompanied the victim tried in vain to help him and, in a panic, he started the car and crashed head-on into that of his assailants. Frightened, he fled. During this brief moment, the salesman managed to escape from his assailants and found refuge in a garden, where he remained hidden. Unfortunately, he was found by his assailants and beaten unconscious in the process.
Raped and kidnapped for money
The three men then led him into a tunnel, where they threatened to torture him by showing him tools such as a hammer and pliers. The men then forced the victim to telephone a friend they had met earlier. On the phone, they demanded that the victim's friend pay them €2,500 to release him. After some discussion, the man was finally released for €500. He then went to the Guyancourt police station with a broken jaw, numerous injuries and, above all, in shock. At the end of his strength, he was taken to the André-Mignot hospital in Le Chesnay.
An investigation was carried out, and the perpetrators were identified thanks to the number plate of the Clio taken by the victim's friend and to numerous telephone enquiries. During questioning, the three men and the woman accused of assault, kidnapping and false imprisonment made the same statements throughout the investigation. They claim to have been swindled by the victim and are therefore seeking compensation. Their actions seem disproportionate in view of the nature of the transaction, and they will have to pay with their time in prison.
Securing transactions between private individuals
Unfortunately, this kind of case is not the first. In fact, with all these attacks and scams between private individuals during transactions, it's hard to trust anyone and feel safe. And yet, when we're on ad sites like Leboncoin or Facebook Marketplace, we shouldn't be afraid of getting involved in cases like this and have a modicum of confidence in our contacts, who are not always ill-intentioned.
The best way to avoid this is to use a secure payment method like Obvy. Obvy, the secure payment method between private individuals, guarantees 100% protection against scams for transactions between private individuals. In the event of problems, you can turn around and find all the information about the seller. Just be careful!