A Melbourne man reveals he is leaving Victoria after encountering an armed man while trying to sell a laptop on the Facebook marketplace

Julian Rivers-Smith had tried to sell his laptop, but alarm bells started ringing when the alleged buyer turned up at his Ascot Vale home on March 25.

The man who wanted the laptop reportedly showed up at the front door wearing a face mask and tried to use a fake banking website to prove he could afford the item.

He was also said to have been armed with a knife at the time and made threats to Mr Rivers-Smith including “I have your address” and “remember your car is here”.

CCTV then captured another man crashing into Mr Rivers-Smith’s car with what is believed to be a metal bat.

The pair later fled in an allegedly stolen vehicle after threatening to return to Mr Rivers-Smith’s home.

Mr Rivers-Smith said this had “had weighed heavily on my thoughts since the whole incident”.

The incident occurred just months after one of his vehicles was allegedly stolen by a teenager, with Mr Rivers-Smith fed up with crime in the state.

“It has made me not want to live in Victoria anymore. I am literally leaving the state because of the crime and nothing else,” Mr Rivers-Smith told 7News.

Police said they were investigating and have urged anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. No arrests have been made.

Last month the Crime Statistics Agency revealed that in the 12 months to December 31, the number of criminal incidents in Victoria rose 10.6 per cent to 385,782 incidents.

However, the agency noted that the figure was “below 2020 figures and the previous 2016 peak of 419,599”.

The number of criminal incidents rose by 7.8 per cent to 5,672.7 per 100,000 Victorians.