Chalk Up Another Robbery to the Craigslist Fake Car Salesman

"Give me all your money and the keys."

The search for a gunman who has been robbing people after posting an Internet car ad is expanding to a third East Bay city.

Police in Piedmont are looking for a man who robbed a Modesto man last month of the $6,400 in cash he had on him to buy a 1999 BMW he saw advertised on Craigslist.

The fake car seller showed the victim a black semi-automatic handgun and said, "Give me all your money and the keys. This is no joke," according to police. The gunman got away with the cash in a burgundy four-door sedan driven by another man. The getaway car was possibly a 1990s-make Buick, the Oakland Tribune reports.

The gunman was wearing black beanie pulled down over his face and a black coat and pants, Piedmont Det. George Phifer said.

The incident in Piedmont is very much like a series of robberies in Oakland earlier this week, as well as one last month in Orinda.

Piedmont detectives are working with Oakland police in trying to find the suspect. A Piedmont police detective says "there is no question that we're looking at the same suspect."

After the robberies, police are cautioning people to bring cashier's checks or other kinds of payments if they're considering buying a car they saw advertised on the Internet.

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