How many times have we seen this before? A phony Facebook Marketplace transaction  that turned out to be set-up for a robbery. Thinking back, there was this one. Oh and this one, too. They’re hardly unusual.

This latest incident took place in the Detroit suburb of Warren . . .

According to Warren police, officers were dispatched to the parking lot outside the gym just after 8 p.m. Sept. 6 in response to reports of shots fired.

Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said the shooting was the result of an attempted armed robbery that started with a Facebook Marketplace transaction. According to Dwyer a 16-year-old male and another man were armed and attempted to rob two males who had met them in the Planet Fitness parking lot to complete a Facebook Marketplace transaction.

Do tell. What the armed yoot wasn’t counting on, however, was that at least one of his two would-be robbery victims was legally carrying a firearm.

“One of the men the 16-year-old was trying to rob was a CPL holder and he shot the 16-year-old in the chest,” Dwyer said. “The 16-year-old was first transported to Ascension Macomb Hospital and then to St. John in Detroit.”

I’ve bought things through online transactions in the past without problems. You may have, too. But that doesn’t mean these arrangements are without risk. The man the 16-year-old was trying to rob appears to have done all the right things. They met in a public place. He brought a friend with him. And he was armed.

But taking all the precautions doesn’t preclude being targeted by an aspiring thief. At least in this case, all’s well that ends well. Well, at least for the victims. The 16-year-old has a hole in his chest. He was reported as “hospitalized” with no word as to his condition, but you have to believe he isn’t resting comfortably.

Be careful out there.