Greg's Corner

A new criminal enterprise is being run on Facebook Marketplace

A new scourge of the criminal underworld has been showing up on Facebook Marketplace in New Zealand. It’s the product of a crime wave that is fueling a black market that could have potentially disastrous results by anyone who buys this product. I am of course speaking of the avocado.

Avocados have become so popular in the Kiwi nation some people have taken to stealing the crops from farmers and selling the stolen fruit on roadside stands. However, law enforcement have taken to shutting down these illegal stands. So the avocado rustlers have taken to Facebook Marketplace to sell their ill-gotten gains. The problem is, some of the avocados are either unripe or still have insecticide sprayed on them which could be hazardous to anyone who tries to eat them.

To be fair, while we may be poking a little fun at the situation, it does show that Facebook Marketplace is still largely unmoderated, relying more on community policing. Craigslist has shown in the past community policing does not work in the long run and is more prone to abuse than any actual policing.