Montreal man attacked with bear spray during Facebook Marketplace sale
Posted November 18, 2025 1:45 pm.
Last Updated November 18, 2025 5:51 pm.
A Montreal man is looking for answers after he says he was attacked with bear spray while attempting to sell an iPhone during a meetup arranged through Facebook Marketplace.
Edward, who asked that his last name not be used for safety reasons, shared surveillance footage of the July 27 incident with CityNews.
The high-resolution video, captured by a neighbour’s camera, shows two men waiting on the sidewalk as Edward approaches. After he hands one of them an item, the second man suddenly reaches behind him and sprays Edward in the face before both suspects sprint toward a grey sedan. One gets into the passenger seat while the other enters the back seat, and a third person — the driver — speeds away.
‘Next thing I knew, they were running away with my phone’
Edward says the interaction felt normal until the moment the attack began.
“I was trying to sell an older phone on my Facebook account through Marketplace,” he said. “When they arrived, they seemed kind of normal-ish at first and then the next thing I knew, they were running away with my phone and I was bear sprayed.”
He says he did not require medical treatment because he managed to react quickly.
“I’ve been sprayed before in some sense, so I already knew how to take care of myself,” he said “It didn’t get in my eyes. I closed my eyes quick enough so it doesn’t get into my eyes, but yeah, just a lot of rinsing and taking off my shirt, decontaminating myself.”
The suspects fled in the waiting vehicle. “They ran to the car and then they drove away,” he said.
Police investigation moving slowly, victim says
Edward tells CityNews that Montreal police has a case open on the theft, and that a detective informed him a warrant for the suspects’ information is in progress. However, Edward says he has not heard from investigators in more than a month.
“The investigation is slow, but it’s definitely more than I expected,” he said.
Speaking out to warn others
Edward says he hesitated to release the video publicly to avoid interfering with the early stages of the investigation. But after seeing similar incidents reported online, he now feels it’s important to warn others about growing safety concerns tied to online buy-and-sell exchanges.
“I’ve seen that it’s a growing issue in Montreal now, so I definitely want to share my story and hope this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” he said.
What he looks for now when identifying suspicious buyers
He says he has since developed his own checklist of warning signs when dealing with potential buyers on Marketplace. Edward says he now avoids accounts that have very few friends, no profile picture, or an empty feed, and those that show drastic shifts in response time, refuse to negotiate on price, or pressure to meet quickly.
He also becomes wary when a buyer repeatedly changes the time or location of a meetup. When multiple red flags appear at once, he says he simply blocks the account and moves on.
Advice for safer transactions
He now recommends meeting at a police station when selling valuable items, noting that many stations have designated areas with surveillance cameras. He also encourages sellers to record the serial number or IMEI so the device can be blacklisted if stolen — something he says his carrier was able to do within minutes.
Even mentioning the police station in advance, he says, can help weed out suspicious buyers: legitimate ones agree immediately, while others stop responding. Above all, he cautions sellers to slow down and trust their instincts.
“Most of all, don’t be in a rush to sell an item,” he said. “I was too excited to sell my phone and got ahead of myself instead of looking at the warning signs.”
