Administrators of Victorian Facebook buy, swap and sell pages could face fines of more than $6200 for allowing illegal gun advertisements.
A recent tip-off to police in Victoria led them to interview a man who wasn't a licensed firearms dealer but who had advertised a gun on a local Facebook trading group.
It's understood the man sought out a licensed dealer to trade the firearm, as is permitted, but then also posted an ad on Facebook.
By allowing the ad to be published, the Facebook group's administrators are liable for fines of up to $6218.
Mildura firearms officer Leading Senior Constable Gary Pearse said Gumtree and Ebay monitored incoming advertisements.
"But, on the localised pages, I don't think they have the same kind of vetting or they don't know what's illegal," he told AAP on Tuesday.
Victorians are banned from publishing or causing to be published firearms advertisements by people who aren't licensed firearm dealers.
Also banned are ads that don't note the serial number of the gun or the licence number of the dealer.
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