Online Auction Sites

In a sophisticated con, fraudsters are copying information about real cars for sale on sites such as AutoTrader.com and CACars.com and are listing them for sale on eBay Motors. Buyers purchase the cars from these con men, wire-transfer money to a seemingly legitimate escrow service, and await delivery of their car. When the car never arrives, they contact the real owner of the car, and discover the legitimate seller knows nothing about the transaction. Then the buyers realize their mistake: the escrow service they've sent the money to is a scam, and the "seller" they dealt with never had possession of the vehicle.

"Shill bidding involves a seller directly or indirectly placing a bid on his or her own item in order to encourage legitimate bidders to bid higher.... It's possible that eBay doesn't see all shilling as a terrible thing, on the theory that shill bidding early in an auction can be regarded as harmless 'pump priming.' Shilling used to be within eBay's rules, in fact, and even today, according to Pursglove, such low-key shilling is unlikely to inspire any official action. Unless, apparently, the pump priming works a little too well: Last May, a California lawyer with at least five eBay identities was booted off the site for entering a $4,500 bid on the second of 10 days of bidding on a painting rumored to be by well-known California artist Richard Diebenkorn, kicking off a bidding frenzy that saw the price climb to $135,805. EBay later voided the sale."

"A California man who collected $36,000 from bidders over eBay's Internet auction site then failed to deliver promised goods was sentenced to 14 months in prison, federal authorities said.... Guest has admitted to posting several listings on eBay's Web site that fraudulently offered Sony digital cameras, IBM laptop computers, and other items."

"Only yesterday, a seller on Amazon's auction site was accused of bilking customers of $28,000, collecting payments from buyers but not shipping the goods. Amazon, which is investigating the case, says if it is true, it would be one of the worst cases of fraud on its auction site. And last month, eBay closed an auction of 500 pounds of marijuana battled a spate of auctions involving illegal sales of human organs--and even an unborn baby."

"Three men attempted to auction 500 pounds of marijuana on eBay Tuesday night until company officials pulled the plug--almost a day after the sale began. The sale began roughly 8:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday night and ceased sometime 21 hours later, according to a screenshot on AuctionWatch.com, which first reported the story."

"A new trend has emerged in online auctions: vigilantism. People are banding together to report auction fraud and are coordinating their efforts in contacting law enforcement officials.

Victims feel a great frustration in trying to get answers from auction sites and law enforcement officials. It is, for the most part, a one-way dialog as evidence is collected.

Do victims who band together actually help police efforts? Detective Burns of the New York Police Department Public Information Office said if victims are feeding law enforcement officials helpful information, it's 'all well and good.' But victims should not try to take actions on their own. According to Burns, victims should always contact their local police department when they think they have been defrauded on an online auction site.

Victims commonly feel extreme frustration that eBay does not have a way to warn other members about bad sellers other than the limited feedback method, where members have a mere 80 characters to sum up their complaints. New sites are popping up where victims can complain about trading partners, make their case, and vent their frustrations.

AuctionBlackList.com allows users to add auction fraudsters to a database. Buyers can search the database to see if sellers have a 'record.' Another site, eBayersThatSuck.com, encourages people to detail their bad experiences with auction trading partners."

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