Instagram sales pitch goes wrong as men armed with guns, machete target house
Shocking video has emerged showing an extreme example of an Instagram post going very wrong.
The footage shows a quiet Friday afternoon in 2015 on a suburban street that soon becomes much louder.
A car pulls up outside a house and four men get out, two armed with guns, one with a machete and one with a baseball bat.
The owner arms himself with a tomahawk, but quickly puts it down after a shotgun is aimed at him and a cartridge fired into the air.
The next shot sprays pellets into the man's hand and thigh.
He retreats, but the thugs follow him and bash him, with police arriving 30 minutes later.
It might be hard to believe, but it was an Instagram post that sparked the shocking attack.
A GoPro video camera was put up for sale for $150, which another user described as "junkie prices" before posting the name of the street and suburb in Brisbane where the seller lived.
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The victim's biggest mistake was challenging the person to come over and sort their argument out.
"That can escalate really quickly because the people involved probably think they're never going to meet in public," Queensland University of Technology social media expert Jason Sternberg said.
The man's tormenters were all convicted and sentenced to jail over the attack.
His experience serves as a warning to the millions of Australians with social media accounts.
"If you're not willing or not prepared for your grandma to see it, then don't post it," Dr Sternberg said.
