The search for the Kijiji robbers continues in the Halifax area after two people fell victim to the scam in two days.

Police responded to a robbery in the parking lot of Kent Building Supplies in Lower Sackville after 6 p.m. Wednesday.

They say a teenage boy met two people to sell a piece of jewelry he had advertised on Kijiji.

Once he handed over the item through the window of his car, he and his three passengers were sprayed with an unknown substance.

Police say the suspects fled the scene on foot.

Officers and a K9 unit searched the area but were unable to locate the suspects.

The same thing happened in Dartmouth Tuesday night in the area of Lacomb Drive and Gaston Road.

Police say a 25-year-old man met two people to sell a piece of jewelry he had advertised on Kijiji.

The victim told police that once he handed over the item, the suspects sprayed him with an unknown substance and fled the scene on foot.

Police officers and a K9 unit searched the area but were unable to locate the suspects.

The suspects in both cases are two young men in their late teens. One is white and the other is black.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Catching a cyber criminal

The incidents have many online classifieds users on alert, and police scratching their heads over how to curb the growing problem of online crime.

Halifax resident Kate Wagg recently posted her laptop on Kijiji. She says she was inundated with calls - many from people who weren’t who they said they were.

“Well, there were a couple of pretty obvious things like, the phone numbers were from no area code I could recognize, and they would be asking me to send laptops to South America,” says Wagg.

Robert Currie, the director of the Law and Technology Institute at Dalhousie University, says there has been a significant increase in Internet-based crime over the past 10 years.

He also says policing the Internet and catching cyber criminals can be a tough job.

“It’s not easily achieved by any means because there are jurisdictional issues in terms of the laws actually reaching all of the Internet activity that’s involved,’ says Currie.

Det. Dana Drover of the integrated financial crime unit agrees. He says education is key in preventing cyber crime.

“The main thing I think would be to familiarize yourself with online classifieds policies, read the policies, familiarize yourself with them and find out what they actually mean,” says Drover.

Police also warn that many online classifieds aren’t reviewed by online staff before the ad goes live, making it even more important to check the website’s online policy before posting an ad.

Wagg says she always checks before posting an ad, but she believes many users don’t.

“Not just on Kijiji, but on Facebook, and Twitter. It’s incredible.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Alyse Hand