“They messaged me to see if they could drop by in the afternoon to pick up the wooden boat and so I sent through my address,” she said.

That afternoon, an older man, who appeared to be in his late 50s, arrived at Treecie’s house.

“My mother-in-law was leaving at the time, so I assumed everything was fine, and didn’t think much of it when I invited him inside to look at the item,” she said.

Once he was inside, Treecie showed him the wooden boat and some crystals she was also selling.

That’s when the interaction took a turn for the worst, she said.

“He picked up the crystals and started feeling them, then he grabbed my hand and I had to physically snatch it away,” she said.

Treecie said the man then asked if she had any more crystals and tried to go upstairs to her bedroom.

“He refused to leave, I was like ‘Look, I have to look after my baby’, who had been on my hip the whole time,” she said.

The man began staring at Treecie’s feet and making what Treecie described as “sexual noises”.

She said he then asked her, “Would you give me five minutes with your toes, to suck them?”

“I just froze, I felt sick,” she said.

Treecie said the man kept getting closer to her and rubbing his arm against hers. She asked him to leave multiple times.

“He appeared to be aroused by my feet, and he kept staring at my baby’s feet too, it was awful,” she said.

Treecie managed to get the man out of the house, but he disappeared before she had a chance to take down his car’s number plate.

In shock, she notified police of the incident.

“This was a report of suspicious behaviour towards a woman following a Marketplace sale set up,” said a police spokesperson.

“In an online environment, it can be difficult to verify the person you are dealing with has good intentions.”

Police urge caution:

Police advise anyone buying or selling on platforms like Facebook Marketplace to exercise caution.

They advise users to check social media profiles. If their profile appears new or relatively blank, there’s a chance it could be fake.

“If purchasers are reluctant to meet in person or insist items are dropped off at a location, they may be avoiding being seen or identified.”

They also recommend ensuring you have someone else with you during the sale, or that you meet in a public place away from alleyways or side streets.

Katie Oliver is a Christchurch-based Multimedia Journalist and breaking news reporter.