12 Arrested In Alleged Stolen Property Scam

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The FBI said 12 people were arrested Monday in connection with a multimillion-dollar property scam in the Northland.

Agents said three years of investigation culminated in the FBI raid of a home in the 6300 block of North Bedford Avenue.

The FBI said investigators found millions of dollars in stolen merchandise, including electronics, tools and vacuum cleaners. The merchandise was being sold on eBay.

Kansas City News

Cyber-savvy town gets rich on eBay frauds

Nicola Smith, Dragasani, Romania

HUNDREDS of people in the poor Romanian town of Dragasani have grown rich by conning eBay online auction customers with deals that seem too good to be true - and often are.

The scammers have even put the new town hall up for sale on eBay, the mayor admitted last week. “I mean, who would want it?” he asked.

Despite growing concern about online frauds, the European Union has poured £150,000 into computer training courses in Dragasani over the past three years in “special recognition” of its IT skills.

complete article at Times Online (UK)

More eBay Cautionary Tales

James A. Martin

Often, when the words "eBay fraud" are spoken, they're accompanied by an accusatory finger pointing to the seller. But as I described in "Selling Your Laptop on eBay," buyers are quite capable of trying to pull a fast one, too. (My column detailed two different fraudulent attempts to purchase my Sony Vaio laptop on eBay.)

Since that column appeared, I've heard from several laptop sellers who say they've been victimized by fraudulent buyers on eBay.

This week I've included excerpts from e-mail I received from two such sellers. Next week I'll share tips I've gathered from sellers (and from my own experience) for safely selling your laptop on eBay.

PC World - Yahoo News

Truemark Service Available for PayPal Customers

According Gartner, phishing attacks robbed 3.6 million people of $3.2 billion in 2007. Truemark reduces the risk of e-mail phishing by confirming the source of the e-mail sender. Consumers will see the Truemark icon in their inbox next to messages from senders that have been verified as legitimate.

Iconix, a provider of visual e-mail identification solutions, announced that its Iconix Truemark service is officially available to millions of PayPal account holders.

By placing an icon next to legitimate e-mail messages, the Iconix Truemark service helps consumers visually identify legitimate e-mail messages and avoid dangerous scams known as phishing attacks.

CRM Daily

Archivist: I stole papers to pay bills

By CLARE TRAPASSO, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - A state archivist was charged Monday with stealing hundreds of artifacts — documents representing "the heritage of all Americans," according to the history buff who found some of them on eBay — to pay his household bills.
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Daniel Lorello, 54, is accused of taking the rare items from the New York State Library, including Davy Crockett Almanacs, Currier and Ives lithographs and the 1865 railroad timetable for Abraham Lincoln's funeral train. Authorities believe he hawked them for tens of thousands of dollars, using much of that to pay off his daughter's credit card debt.

source article

PayPal Buys Fraud Sciences

EBay's online payments division, PayPal, will pay US$169 million for an Israeli security company specializing in detecting online fraud, the companies said Monday. The deal should close within 30 days.

Fraud Sciences, a private company, has developed technology designed to differentiate between real and fraudulent transactions. That technology will be folded into PayPal's antifraud systems, which will be "significantly" improved this year, eBay said.

Fraud Sciences' Chief Operating Officer, Yossi Barak, and founders Shvat Shaked and Saar Wilf will move to PayPal's technology and fraud management teams.

PC World

Cudahy police seek charges in eBay scam

A south side man with no prior criminal record told investigators he was feeding a gambling addiction when police say he defrauded 17 customers in 12 states of $8,000 during bogus computer sales over eBay.

A year-long investigation tracked as many as 42 possible victims, but Cudahy [Wisconsin] police plan to seek charges on the four most provable cases. Those victims sent money to the man's Cudahy home from Alaska, Florida, Kentucky and Ohio and were able to provide investigators strong evidence of the transactions, according to police Lt. David Aamodt, who led the investigation.

source article

Three charged in alleged online fraud

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Three people were arrested Wednesday for allegedly conducting fraudulent online auto-parts sales out of their Manheim Township home.

State police charged Edwin Aloysius Sanders V, 24; his brother, Robert Andrew Sanders, 20; and Keshia Marie Otto, 21, all of 423 Amesbury Road, with theft by deception, running a corrupt organization, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, all felonies.

They were to be arraigned Wednesday evening.

Police said the three operated businesses known as foreignfindsonline.com and Z Corp. and sold items through online auction sites such as eBay.

Lancaster Online