GARDAÍ ARE CRACKING down on a group of suspected thieves who the believe are using Facebook’s marketplace to sell high-end stolen cosmetics. 

There has been a significant upsurge in the theft of beauty products in recent months, with many of the incidents occurring in pharmacies, sources told this publication. 

Now officers based in Dublin city centre have launched an operation targeting those selling the goods. 

In particular, officers are focusing on Facebook’s Marketplace, a section of the social media website which allows users to advertise and sell goods. 

There are also a number of Facebook pages which are believed to be hosting a range of stolen products for sale. 

These are typically set up as “buy and sell” pages for local communities. However, in recent weeks, officers have become aware of several pages being infiltrated by the same people selling the same type of stock.

It is the contention of gardaí that there is a concerted effort from a small group of people to sell off the stolen goods through Facebook for cash so that their actions can’t be traced. 

Gardaí believe that cosmetics are regularly targeted by thieves as they can easily be resold. The products are not as easy to trace as other high-end products like electronics.

Facebook told TheJournal.ie that selling stolen items isn’t allowed on Marketplace and goes against its “commerce policies”.

“If you see an item on Marketplace that you think was stolen, we recommend that you contact your local law enforcement. When you contact your local law enforcement to file a police report, you may want to share screenshots of the listing and/or seller profile and any messages you received from the seller”, Facebook said.