Students Scam eBay and PayPal

Two Vietnamese exchange students have been charged with defrauding hundreds of eBay and PayPal users. The students, Tram Vo and Khoi Van, were apparently “mules” within a larger identity theft organization based in Vietnam. Their fraudulent activities netted them over a million dollars, much of which was transferred directly to offshore accounts in Canada and Vietnam.

The scheme was intricate but direct: hackers and other fraudsters in Vietnam gained access to genuine credit card and bank account information, either through “underground sites” or other means. The financial information was then funnelled to the students, who used it to set up PayPal and eBay accounts.

source: Zippycart

Couple sought in eBay ripoffs

WYOMING – Borough police Thursday filed several charges against the owners of the eBay Drop-Off Store for failing to return items given for sale and failing to return cash proceeds for items sold.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Benjamin Waltman, 27, and Kimberly Waltman, 25, both of Jenkins Township. Each faces charges of deceptive or fraudulent business practices, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy.

source: timesleader.com

Owners of local eBay business face charges of fraud and theft

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.19.2008

The owners of a local eBay auction business are facing theft and fraud charges, suspected of selling their customers' merchandise and then refusing to pay out the proceeds, police said.

Tucson police arrested Thomas A. Collier, 36, and Wendy C. Wren, 35, owners of Arizona eBay Auctioneers, after serving a search warrant on the business Tuesday, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a department spokesman.

The investigation started after several customers of the business notified police that they were unable to collect the proceeds from the sale of their merchandise or were unable to get the owners to return items.

source: Arizona Daily Star

Victims turn vigilante in hunt for eBay conmen

The world of online auctions is becoming as notorious as the Wild West. Unscrupulous thieves con innocent buyers and the authorities seem powerless to intervene.

Fraudtracking.com, a campaigning website, estimates that British customers are losing £500,000 a day through fraudulent transactions on the various auction sites, but there were just 70 convictions for online auction fraud last year.

However, there’s a new posse in town, a group of UK cyber-vigilantes intent on running the internet auction cowboys out of town.

complete story at Times Online

Two Charged with Ebay Scam

Macon Police arrested two men they say ran an internet scam over eBay.

Sgt. Melanie Hofmann says on April 22, 23-year-old Dominique Cipella from Fort Rucker, Alabama filed a report with the Macon Police Department about an Ebay purchase that he paid for but never received. Cipella said he paid more than $2,000 for a 52-inch High-Definition television on the online auction site in February. Cipella told police he never received the television.

source : 13WMAZ

Ebay scam exposed, $125,000 in stolen merchandise

MOBILE, Ala. -- Last week, investigators with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office learned of a scam perpetrated against individuals purchasing items listed on eBay. In less than 48 hours, Investigators with the White Collar Crimes Unit recovered $125,000 in stolen merchandise in the internet-related scam.

On April 28, 2008, a local antiques business owner informed investigators with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office that a one-of-a-kind antique item, recently stolen from the business, was listed for sale on eBay.

source: Fox10 News

Ebay Fraud Alert: Ebay Pulse Scam Exposed With Video and Transcript

Another huge kink in eBay’s armor has been revealed today. Several eBay members have managed to manipulate eBay by rigging the eBay Pulse page and making thousands of dollars per month for their effort.

Full story including video and account of events of this scam.
( http://www.gurucreation.com/2008/04/ebay-pulse-scam.html )

An eBay member has apparently created a piece of software that creates hundreds of thousands of fake eBay accounts. He is then able to use these accounts to create watchers for his and several other eBay members auctions.

This allows eBay users ’mysterygiant’, ’jjfjq’ and ’kekoa64’ to dominate the eBay Pulse page at will. The eBay Pulse page is the single highest traffic webpage on eBay.

source: WebWire

Delhi man jailed over Internet scam

DELHI -- A man who was allegedly running an Internet scam using eBay from his parents' home is now behind bars.

Merced County sheriff's investigators arrested 20-year-old Benjamin Haag after eight alleged victims reported that they ordered goods from Haag -- but never received the items they paid for.

Haag faces felony grand theft and fraud charges.

John Mussotto, a sheriff's computer and forensics expert, said the department became aware of the case after the victims contacted the federal government's Internet Crime Complaint Center with stories of how they had allegedly bought items Haag was selling on eBay, a shopping and auction Web site.

source: Merced Sun-Star