Ryan Rhodes lived his own cautionary tale last week about dealing with potential scammers while buying and selling merchandise online.

Two men from Bluffton, S.C., are in the Bulloch County Jail following the incident last Thursday that Rhodes thought was a fairly routine transaction of a musical instrument he had posted for sale on Facebook Marketplace.

"Thursday morning, I received a message via Facebook Marketplace, where I have a number of things listed," said Rhodes, a resident of the Glen Oaks area off Highway 80 West. "Among those was a very expensive accordion that I had listed for about $1,000. I had a gentleman reach out to me very interested about this. 

"We negotiated over Facebook and he asked for more pictures and painted the picture of a legitimate buyer."

Rhodes described himself as "very experienced in the medium of the online marketplace." Also, he said he retired from work in law enforcement as a detective who investigated financial crimes. 

"The gentleman appeared legitimate on all accounts and just wanted to get a good deal on a very high-end musical instrument," Rhodes said. "So, he said he was from Dublin and we ended up meeting up a couple of hours later (at my house).

"I brought the instrument out and the gentleman presented a stack of bills to me to pay for the accordion."

Rhodes said he knew something was wrong immediately.

"As soon as he handed them over to me, I noticed that they felt waxy. They looked too pristine and they didn't have the typical currency paper type feel.

"I commented on it and he said, 'Oh yeah, I just pulled them out.' " 

Rhodes said the man, who would later be identified as Jorge Harbarger of Bluffton, then grabbed the accordion and made "a B-line back to the vehicle, where he has a friend driving.

"I walked towards the vehicle and said, 'All the bills have this same serial number,' and I'm yelling at him to give the instrument back.

"I saw his friend reach down to grab something towards his feet, which I interpreted as a reach for a firearm," Rhodes said. "It was at that point that I drew my firearm on him and told him, 'Don't touch it. Don't do anything. I want my stuff back.' And both of their hands went up and the passenger opened the door and handed the accordion back.

"I threw the bogus money back into the car and they took off."

Rhodes said he began to follow the vehicle and contacted the Statesboro Police Department with a description of the vehicle, why he was following them and that they were on Veterans Memorial Parkway heading south.

Statesboro Police Chief Mike Broadhead said patrol officers located the vehicle in question and made a traffic stop in the Truist Bank parking lot at the intersection of Veterans and Fair Road.

"We made a traffic stop and the driver said he had marijuana under the seat and they did have a gun in the car," Broadhead said. "They found a firearm in the center console, ran the serial number and there was no issue with the gun."

Because the initial incident took place in the county, Bulloch County Sheriff's deputies took Harbarger, 20, of Brenden Lane in Bluffton and Nikolas Catalan, 25, of Covington Lane also in Bluffton, into custody. 

Harbarger face charges of first-degree forgery, misdemeanor theft by deception and possessing fraudulent government documents. Catalan is charged with first-degree forgery, misdemeanor theft by deception, misdemeanor driving while license suspended or revoked, possession of marijuana less than one oz. and possession and use of drug related objects.

Rhodes said he was happy to get his instrument back and relieved the incident did not turn into a tragedy. Also, he pointed to what happened to him as to why people need to be cautious when making sales or purchases in online settings.

"I'm not a rube at all. I'm a very experienced seller from the days of Craigslist going back. I've been buying and selling for quite a while," he said. "If I was a criminal, this is exactly how I would have acted. I would have seemed very interested, and I would have drawn out the conversation, would have asked for the extra pictures — just like the man did with me."

Rhodes urged everyone who uses online marketplaces as a seller or a buyer to be particularly alert for scams during the holiday season.

"It seems folks are more susceptible this time of year and more folks with bad intentions are searching for easy marks," Rhodes said. "Be careful. Be skeptical."