Sunday, March 23, 2008

Two homes raided in Ebay fraud crackdown (UK)

POLICE swooped on addresses in Selby district in dawn raids to arrest suspected internet fraudsters.

Two people were arrested in connection with alleged scams involving internet marketplace Ebay.

The operation was led by the North Yorkshire Police's financial investigation unit, based at the force's Northallerton headquarters. The unit was supported by safer neighbourhoods officers from Selby.
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Police said a 30-strong operation was mounted to target houses in Selby and Thorpe Willoughby.

source: The Press

Saturday, March 22, 2008

SIIA Files Lawsuits Against 8 Ebay Sellers

Raju Shanbhag

All is not going well for online seller eBay (News - Alert). The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has filed eight new lawsuits against eBay-based software sellers, alleging that they are selling counterfeit products. This takes the total number of lawsuits filed against the eBay sellers by SIIA to 17 as the organization has already filed 9 cases before.

In fact SIIA has filed more than 25 cases against eBay sellers in the last two years. The company also claims to have reached several settlements in the process. According to SIIA, the organization has approached eBay and offered ideas to stop the sale of counterfeit software programs. But the organization claims that eBay rejected all these ideas.

source: TMCnet

Friday, March 21, 2008

Two charged with Internet fraud counts

Mar 20, 2008 (The Register-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) A Fayette County woman and her mother have been charged with numerous crimes after authorities said they made thousands of dollars in fraudulent Internet purchases.

Robin Sue Layton, 20, of Ansted, was charged with 20 counts of computer fraud, two counts of identity theft and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony, Sheriff Bill Laird said. Her mother, Deborah Elaine Layton, 47, also of Ansted, was charged with seven counts of computer fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony.

Both women were taken into custody Wednesday, Laird said. Robin Layton was released on $45,000 bond and Deborah Layton on $15,000 bond.

source: TradingMarkets.com

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Seven charged in 'eBay art scam'

Seven people have been charged in connection with a multi-million dollar international art forgery operation.

Four Americans, two Spaniards and an Italian are accused of producing and selling thousands of counterfeit prints around the world.

The fakes of artworks by artists such as Picasso, Chagall, Miro and Dali sold for up to $50,000 (£25,000) each.

source: BBC News

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

PayPal launches multi-pronged attack on e-crime

"With e-crime, there's no silver bullet," says Garreth Griffith, head of UK risk management at online payment processor PayPal. "A specific initiative can have a huge impact, but it also has to be married with other initiatives along a spectrum. You can't just focus on educating users or working with law enforcement - you've got to go for a multi-pronged approach as you're constantly fighting a war against the fraud guys."

The biggest problem for financial services organisations in this context is the unauthorised use of customers' financial details and the two main threats are phishing e-mails and the theft of credit or debit cards - although the latter problem has eased since the arrival of chip and pin.

read complete article: ComputerWeekly.com

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Police warn of new online scam

Detectives in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s (RCIPS) Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) are warning residents to be on their guard against a new form of scam in the Cayman Islands.

Officers have been alerted to an advertisement placed in local press asking for ‘Part Time Assistants’ with no further job description and giving a yahoo email address for interested persons to contact. Once the person gives the scammers their details, counterfeit travellers cheques are sent to them in the Cayman Islands. The jobseekers are then asked to cash the cheques, keeping ten percent for themselves and sending the remaining 90 percent to Nigeria, Africa by money transfer.

source: Cayman Net News

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Family's fury as DVD pirate dad jailed (UK)

A dad-of-two who ran a bogus DVD racket from his South Tyneside home is today behind bars.
Simon Keenan bought counterfeit films from the Far East and flogged them for profit on eBay and his own website.

At peak times, such as Christmas, house husband Keenan, of Connaught Terrace, Jarrow, could make £350 a day shifting up to 70 films, making a £5 profit on each.

A Newcastle Crown Court judge yesterday jailed the 36-year-old for six months which Trading Standards and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) hoped would send a message out to other DVD criminals.

source: The Shields Gazette

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

eBay refunds victims of internet scam

Britt Smith

Two Geelong women who lost hundreds of dollars in an alleged internet holiday scam are among thousands of victims to be compensated.

Online auction house eBay was yesterday setting up a special fund for people who bought fake accommodation packages from Melbourne-based booking agent, Robert Kobis.
Highton's Melissa Fisher lost $280 and Benita Clark of Maud more than $100 in the alleged scam, dashing their plans of dream holidays to Queensland.

They said they had checked Mr Kobis' credentials and he appeared legitimate, but realised they had been scammed when he "disappeared'' and left them out of pocket.

source: Geelong Advertiser

Saturday, March 08, 2008

eBay travel victims unite (AU)

Kylie Reghenzani

BRISBANE tourist Don Bailey has vowed to join other victims of a holiday rip-off and launch legal action against an online travel agent who ruined their dream holidays and left them thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Online auction site eBay has suspended Beach Australia's Robert Kobis, who also operates Cyber Blue Media, from trading on the site after it received hundreds of complaints from unhappy customers.

Mr Bailey and his wife Maxine arrived in Cairns on Tuesday only to find their five night booking at a Port Douglas hotel was part of the nationwide scam.

The couple have lost at least $1700

article: Cairns.com.au

Friday, March 07, 2008

Fraudster in court for net auction sales scam (UK)

THE dangers of online shopping were highlighted when a man was yesterday convicted of using eBay to cheat customers.

Wayne O'Boyle took £5,000 from victims by advertising electrical goods he did not have on the internet auction site. Judge John Walford, at Teesside Crown Court, said: "It strikes at the heart of the internet auction system.

"What he did is too easy for anyone with half a brain and a degree of cunning."

The 27-year-old, from Marton Road, Middlesbrough, used bogus names, email addresses and telephone numbers so customers could not trace him.

Northern Echo

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Quincy man sentenced to five years for stealing from two Internet buyers

By RODNEY HART

A Quincy man pleaded guilty Monday to theft and was sentenced to five years in prison for an eBay scam involving a non-existent Mickey Mantle baseball card.

Jeremy Markell, 29, pleaded guilty to theft over $10,000 and was sentenced by Judge William Mays. Markell also was ordered to pay $29,804 in restitution.

First Assistant State's Attorney Gary Farha said Markell put a photocopy of a 1952 Mickey Mantle rookie baseball card on eBay. Two people, one from Pennsylvania and one from Canada, bid on the item and sent Markell checks.

The victims were sent empty envelopes, authorities said.

source: Quincy Herald Whig

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

How to Avoid Falling Into the Phishing Hole

Tom Spring, PC World

You never can defend yourself too much while online.

A PC World reader alerted me to a flaw on eBay's Web site that enabled a scam designed to trick people into handing over their personal information. eBay promptly patched the flaw last week, but experts I spoke with are wondering how long the fix will hold.

The flaw allowed a scammer to use an increasingly common type of attack called cross-site scripting, or XSS, to redirect people from an eBay listing to a spoofed eBay site. Though eBay may have plugged the hole for now, experts say, similar problems have surfaced in the past on eBay and other sites, and it's a safe bet they will again.

article in PCWorld