Bronx Facebook Marketplace crew use gun, bat, knife, club with nails to rob car buyers

A Bronx crew of crooks wielding a gun, knife, metal bat and a club with nails sticking out are using Facebook Marketplace to meet and mug eager car buyers carrying thousands of dollars, police said Wednesday.

Over the past two months, the bandits used the popular online bazaar to advertise they were selling a car, investigators said.  On six occasions, they arranged to meet up with someone looking to purchase their vehicle but instead robbed the buyer of the cash earmarked for the auto.

The crew have stolen about $27,000 cash during the heists as well as two cars belonging to their victims, cops said.

The crooks are also wanted for swiping a 26-year-old woman’s car they found unoccupied and running off the Cross Bronx Expressway near Olmstead Ave. in Parkchester on Dec. 29.

They started their Facebook Marketplace spree on March 10 when they showed up at Dark St. and Dyre Ave. to meet a 36-year-old man who wanted to buy the car they had advertised. But once he arrived they brandished the menacing-looking club with nails protruding and robbed him of $3,000.

Two days later, they met up with another potential buyer, this time at Yates and Waring Aves., near the Bronx’s Pelham Parkway neighborhood, and put the 21-year-old man in a chokehold as they stole his cash and cell phone, cops said.

On April 8, the crew struck again, this time at Wilder Ave. and E. 233rd St., about a block from Seton Falls Park. During the afternoon robbery, three of the crooks confronted two men, ages 23 and 55, with a gun and metal bat. They struck the younger man in the head with the bat and fled with $10,000 cash the victims hoped to buy the vehicle with as well as the Honda the two men arrived in, cops said. The struck victim was treated by medics at the scene.

During that robbery, the crooks’ vehicle sported a license plate stolen from a car outside Calvary Hospital earlier that day, cops said.

On April 18 when the crew arranged to sell a car to two men, ages 24 and 29, on Rombouts Ave. near Dark St., about a block from their first Marketplace robbery, cops said. During the “sale” two crooks pulled a gun on the older victim and robbed him of $4,000.

As the month drew to a close, the crew briefly moved their operation to Queens, where they robbed a 55-year-old man on 65th Ave. near 160th St., about a block from the Long Island Expressway. During the April 25 heist, the crooks were posing as car buyers not sellers when they pulled a gun and robbed the victim of his vehicle, cops said.

Four days later, they were back on Rombouts Ave. in the Bronx, robbing a 22-year-old car buyer of $10,000. During the 11 a.m. robbery, the bandits pulled a gun and demanded his cash and cell phone, cops said. The crooks ran off up Rombouts Ave. toward Mount Vernon, across the county line in Westchester, cops said.

The crew’s last known heist occurred May 7 when they lured a 28-year-old man back to Dyre Ave. after advertising a vehicle on Facebook Marketplace. They pulled a knife and robbed the victim of his belongings and again were last seen heading toward Mount Vernon — this time in a gray Mercedes-Benz.

Detectives tied the string of robberies together after recovering surveillance footage of multiple incidents showing the same perpetrators, a police source said.

Facebook created Marketplace in 2016. By 2021, the wildly popular meet-up spot for buyers and sellers was getting more than a billion visitors a month , according to the website bigcommerce.com .

Cops on Tuesday released surveillance images of the suspects and asked the public’s help identifying them and tracking them down. Cops also released screenshots of some of the Facebook profiles they used to lure victims.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.