The article Researchers: Software Can Nip Ebay Fraud in the Bud caught my interest. The claim is that by analyzing data fraudsters using eBay can be identified.
I started to wonder what are the biggest advantages, in terms of avoiding being caught, of using online auctions to commit fraud and sell stolen property.
I can tell you that all of the top eBay fraudsters were caught because of one fatal flaw in their scam. Greed. What I say in this article is not intended as legal advice and I am not trying to encourage this type of crime. While I wish that all eBay scammers would be imprisoned with societies worst, I think it is important that people appreciate some of the challenges faced by law enforcement when it comes to prosecuting these people. That way it is a case of buyer beware and you recognize that you may be screwed out of your hard earned money on eBay and there may be nothing that the authorities can do to help you.
All criminal offences have certain common elements that that the prosecution is required to prove. Jurisdiction, identity are essential, and usually the cooperation of a victim is required.
To establish jurisdiction the prosecution has to establish that the Court hearing the case has jurisdiction over the offence. Jurisdiction can be established through various means but usually some part of the offence will take place in an area, a particular state or country, over which the Court presides. It can become a thorny issue if for example a package is ordered in Louisville from Romania and shipped to Toronto via Miami. It may be that a criminal could be tried in anyone of these locations. It gets more complicated if the funds are paid via Paypal whose head office is in another location. If an accused is charged in a location that does not have jurisdiction over an offence, they will not be convicted. If the accused is operating from a corrupt jurisdiction, it may be that the police could care less if the criminal is operating in their particular area and it may be that the person will never be extradited despite the fact that he has thousands of victims worldwide.
The identity of the criminal must be proven, and the fact that the Internet provides anonymity is well known. Look at the increase of the number of reported cases involving child porn in the last few years. It is not a case of their being more perverts it is a case of now you can access this material with less risk that your face will end up on the front page of the local newspaper. With Internet based scams the advantage is that you can steal a substantial amount of money without having to stick a gun in someones face. In fact, you do not even have to change out of your pyjamas. The issue and probably the greatest challenge for law enforcement is figuring out who is sitting behind the keyboard and committing the offence.
Finally, a victim is usually required. Look at the final case below. John Wasmann sells 9,000 items on eBay. That is potentially 9,000 victims. How do you find these people when you consider that lots of goods do not have serial numbers, they are not recorded, and the property is being sold around the world? Imagine trying to communicate with all of the victims and bring them to court or get their evidence admitted through some other means. This is a huge task. Even if it is the simple scam of collecting money from people for goods that do not exist or are never shipped, still very difficult.
I hope people appreciate the resources that law enforcement has to put into these cases to make them successful. That is why greed was the fatal flaw in the top eBay scams. While it is not economical or efficient to prosecute only a few fraudulent transactions, start pulling off thousands and you will attract the interest of law enforcement. For the victims, they have to be aware of the risk of using online auctions.
From an internet search here are some if not the largest scams committed using eBay.
Coin dealer gets 5-year prison sentence for eBay fraud
MIAMI- A former attorney and rare coin dealer was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in prison after admitting he defrauded more than $1 million from more than 100 people who bought collectibles from him on the eBay online auction site.
Chicagoans caught in eBay bust More than 2,000 victims in thefts topping $5 mil.
In the most common, the victim had placed a bid on eBay and lost. The thieves would send the victim an e-mail inviting him or her to participate in a “second-chance” auction. Couriers, who often used fake IDs, would pick up the money at a Western Union in the Chicago area, and the customer would never receive the item.
In another scam, the victim would receive an e-mail from the crime ring saying he or she would lose their eBay account in 24 hours if they did not e-mail back their password and other account information, which the thieves would use to take over the victim’s account. They would use the account to rip off other eBay users.
And in a twist, the thieves would bid on an item on eBay, but would not buy it through PayPal. Instead, they would persuade the seller to put the money into a fake escrow account. The seller would ship the product and the escrow account would vanish.
Internet trio who cheated 3,000 eBay shoppers are jailed
Three internet fraudsters who made nearly £300,000 conning thousands of people into buying non-existent items on eBay were jailed yesterday for their part in a “well planned and sophisticated fraud”.
In the biggest fraud of its kind uncovered so far, a Romanian couple and their accomplice tricked customers from across the globe into paying for fictitious goods that never arrived.
A southern California teenager who previously bilked investors out of $US1 million in an Internet betting scheme has been sentenced to almost three years in jail for an unrelated scam he operated through online auctioneer Ebay.
eBay fraud boy con ‘really easy’
A teenager detained for defrauding eBay customers netted £100,000 - more than double the previously estimated figure, a BBC Wales investigation has found.
British man jailed for eBay phishing fraud
A British man was jailed for four years on Tuesday for masterminding an eBay internet auction swindle which stole computer account details from users and assumed their identities.
David Levi led six others in a gang which scooped almost 200,000 pounds (US$353,800) through a “phishing” fraud — the practice of stealing goods after tricking computer users into revealing their bank details.
Man arrested in huge eBay fraud
Police in South Salt Lake, Utah, are working with eBay to determine just how many people were victimized by what authorities say was one of the biggest frauds in the auction site’s history. Police arrested 31-year-old Russell Dana Smith last weekend after hundreds of auction winners complained that they sent $1,000 or more to a company named Liquidation Universe for laptop computers they never received. Police say the firm appears to have raked in $1 million from about 1,000 victims in just a few weeks.
eBay Fraud Perpetrator Sentenced to 3-Years
A Los Angeles man was sentenced to 3-years for organizing one of the largest internet auction frauds on eBay…
Chris Chong Kim, 28, will be required to pay back the $600,000 he took illegally from customers ordering computer parts, but receiving nothing. He will spend the day times working to raise money, and his nights will be spent behind bars.
A Regina man is going to prison after pleading guilty to one of the biggest eBay-relation crime sprees ever seen in Regina.
On Wednesday, John William Wasmann, 51, pleaded guilty to possession of a staggering volume of stolen property, including some 9,000 items that had been sold through the Internet auction service.
Provincial Court Judge Dianne Morris sentenced him to two years incarceration and ordered him to pay an $83,000 fine.
According to Crown prosecutor Chris Sabat, between May 8, 2000, and Nov. 23, 2003, Wasmann listed more than 9,000 stolen items on the eBay online auction service. The items sold for a total of $459,000US (about $600,000 Cds).
1 response so far ↓
Anna // Dec 19, 2006 at 3:33 am
http://www.scamclub.com talks about all shorts of scams & frauds.