Arouca man robbed while buying crypto currency in carpark

A 52-year old man was robbed of nearly $100,000 when he went to buy crypto currency from a man in a pharmacy carpark.

Around 8.30 pm on November 29, the victim who lives in Arouca, went to the Arouca Police Station and told officers he went to meet a man 33-year-old Belmont man who he had been doing crypto currency business with for almost two years.

He met the man in the carpark of a pharmacy along Trincity Central Road, Trincity.

The victim was sitting in his car, when the man arrived and got into the car with him.

He handed the Belmont man $85,800 cash in a black bag which was supposed to be used to buy crypto coins.

Shortly after giving the man the money, two men dressed in hoodies, armed with guns, approached the car and knocked on both the passenger and driver windows before announcing a robbery.

The men snatched the money and cell phones before escaping in a waiting car.

Meanwhile, police are looking for bandits who made off with cars from Trincity Mall and One Woodbrook Place.

In the first incident, a woman from St Joseph parked her white Nissan B14 in the basement carpark at One Woodbrook Place at around 7.30 am.

She locked the car, which was valued at $17,000 and went away.

When she returned around 4 pm she realised the car was missing.

Later that day, a 46-year-old Enterprise woman went to Trincity Mall around 6 pm and parked her green Suzuki Vitara in the east car park near an ATM.

She locked the car and when she returned an hour and a half later the SUV was missing.

Investigations into the thefts are ongoing.