Thread: Ebay scams traced to Chicago

EBay scams traced to Chicago
August 28, 2006

BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter























Stacey McBride had gone through a divorce and she needed to sell her $10,400 wedding ring. So the 36-year-old New Jersey woman put the jewelry on the eBay online auction site and soon received a taker. But the taker was a faker.

Calling himself Christian Hamilton, he e-mailed McBride offering to buy her one-carat ring and the matching diamond encrusted wedding band.

He asked her to send the jewelry to his apartment in the 6100 block of North Kenmore in Chicago. He also sent her a link to an Internet "escrow service" that would turn over his money to her after he received his merchandise.

You guessed it: Christian Hamilton and the escrow service disappeared -- and so did her jewelry.

"I always thought I was street smart," McBride said. "I guess I'm not Internet smart."

As many as 300 complaints of eBay-related fraud are streaming into Chicago from out-of-state victims who are losing millions of dollars in the scams, law enforcement sources said.

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center gets hundreds of complaints a day from defrauded Americans. Many cases are traced to Romania, where criminals use Internet cafes to avoid capture and keep from leaving a digital trail to their home PCs.

Criminal organizations controlled by Romanians and other Eastern Europeans seem to be behind much of the fraud in Chicago, sources said. Their cells appear to be concentrated on the city's North Side.

Buyers urged to use PayPal



Last year, federal authorities in Chicago charged Adrian Florin Fechete with scamming $125,000 from three people who believed they were getting a second chance to buy items they didn't win on eBay the first time.

The Romanian national offered to sell a bandsaw to a Preston, Idaho, resident, and offered other people a motorcycle and a 1956 Chevrolet.

Fechette allegedly possessed fake IDs from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana as well as a fake Canadian passport. Authorities listed 16 different aliases for him.

EBay warns of such scams.

The company urges people to use its secure PayPal payment system and to avoid Western Union, MoneyGram International or other services that do not guarantee transactions.

EBay also prohibits the use of its system to solicit people to buy or sell items "off eBay," according to the company.

"EBay does a very good job of ensuring the people online are legitimate," said Russell C. Collett, assistant special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Chicago office. "We want people to realize that from a Secret Service standpoint, we have an excellent relationship with eBay."

The Chicago Electronic and Financial Crimes Task Force monitors eBay fraud and works with the company to identify new scams, Collett said.

"We see a fair amount of cases where the violators were overseas," he said.

Drug addicts recruited



Chicago has become one of the hubs for eBay scams over the past few years, sources said.

Drug addicts and recent immigrants are recruited as bagmen to pick up Western Union money transfers to Chicago from out of state, sources said.

They give the cash to cell leaders in Chicago, who then are suspected of wiring the money overseas to kingpins in Romania and other countries.

By picking on out-of-state victims, the scammers discourage local law enforcement agencies from investigating the cases, sources said.

William Dorman of Nixa, Mo., considers himself lucky. He almost was victimized when he tried to buy a Jaguar X5 for $2,500 in a fake "second chance auction" similar to the one Fechette allegedly carried out.

Dorman and his wife had originally lost a bid for the Jaguar when the item was posted legitimately on eBay by a man in Downstate Marion.

Somehow, scammers received Dorman's e-mail address and sent him an official-looking e-mail with an eBay logo offering him another chance to buy the car.

"Good news!" the e-mail said. "The following eBay item on which you placed a bid for US $2,500.00 on Aug-13-06 19:43:53 PDT is now available for purchase."

$3,000 scam



Dorman agreed to buy it and faxed a Western Union wire transfer number to the Chicago-based "authorized eBay agent," who called himself Constantin Prodea.

But when he called the "seller," who called herself Laura McCartney, and she told him she could not speak to him for three hours, Dorman grew suspicious and raced to his Western Union office where he stopped payment on the wire transfer.

"If I had been 10 minutes later, I would have been screwed," he said.

Kaelynn Wolfe, a 21-year-old college student in Washington state, was not as lucky.

She thought she was going through eBay to pay for a $3,000 Mitsubishi Eclipse, her dream car. The "seller" lived in New York, but the eBay representative was in Chicago, according to the e-mails during her transaction.

She never heard from the "eBay representative" again once she sent her money to him through Western Union.

"I worked my butt off to buy this car, the one I always wanted," Wolfe said. "I have a 2-year-old son. I never thought about going on the actual eBay Web site and reading it. Now I would. I'm probably never going to get my money back."

fmain@suntimes.com

Would any of you buy or sell an item worth that much money without more than just an address? If I am dealing in that much money, I am probably going to be looking that person in the eye before we transfer anything.

Since I have never bought nor sold anything of that value on Ebay, I don't know how it is handled, but I would certainly pay more attention to the transaction than, say, a $10 book.

I don't know to what extent Ebay really does police it's members, but it jus seems that is putting too much trust in their ability to stay ahead of the bad guys.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

I don't know to what extent Ebay really does police it's members, but it jus seems that is putting too much trust in their ability to stay ahead of the bad guys.

A big problem is with seller accounts that get hijacked, then start offering very expensive items at bargain prices for very short auctions.

I got one of those guys busted last night, but it's amazing how many people really think you can get a $7000 item for $100 with free shipping.

Oh, I know. I had my account hijacked. Thank goodness there was no problem and Ebay did catch it long before I did as I wasn't listing anything at the time.

Also, the phishing scams for information is just unbelievable. When I first started selling on Ebay, I got an official looking email asking me to update my account. I was just filling it our like a good little Ebayer until I got to the part that asked for my SS# and bank account. What a minute!! I didn't give that info when I signed up - so I just ignored it.

The similar thing happened once when my son signed me up for AOL. I got an actual letter that look very much like AOL and the PO Box number was j ust 1 number off from the actual AOL number. I emailed AOL about this, they were totally unconcerned and rude even. He just told me it wasn't AOL and he had other emails to answer.


But you kinda made my points, it seems like a small amount of common sense and a little cynicism might go a long way to protecting yourself on this.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Oh, I know. I had my account hijacked. Thank goodness there was no problem and Ebay did catch it long before I did as I wasn't listing anything at the time.

I kind of new to ebay, and without revealing too much info, could you tell me how your account got hijacked?

Did they just guess your password, or is it more complicated than that?

Did they just guess your password, or is it more complicated than that?

You know, I don't have a clue how they got it. I have never, ever, answered any of those phishing letters. I was using the same password and ID everywhere I registered on the internet, though. I no longer do that.

I have been told there are programs out there that can get your password.

Also, don't take it as gospel, because I don't know, someone told me they can get it through Firefox if you allow them to 'remember' your password. I h ad done that - so when I changed my ID and password, I don't let them 'remember' for me. I don't want to slam the browser, just thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.

Sometimes when I close out one site, 'behind' it will be a page that looks just like my sign in page for Paypal. I might not have been to Paypal for days so it isn't something I have done. I just assume it is anothe fake and they have learned to throw that up, hoping I will sign on. I don't know what to do about it, though, except to be careful.

As I said, Ebay caught it. I had gotten some strange emails that is like a copy you get when you email another member through Ebay, but again, I just thought it was fake and ignored it. I didn't know anything was amiss until I tried to log in and Ebay had put my account on hold. When I emailed them, they told me to change my ID and password.

So I would say just be careful - don't answer any emails unless you know for sure who it is. Anything that purports to be from Ebay or Paypal, I don't open - I go to My Ebay and if it is there, I will open. If not, I assume it is a fake.

When in doubt, don't open them.

Maybe this is what happened to your account. A lot of people recently have had their Ebay accounts hijacked with false listings.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php ... light=ebay

AS I said, I don't have a clue and Ebay didn't explain. I just keep a close watch now. It doesn't mean it can't happen, but I just don't answer anything pertaining to Ebay unless it is on my Ebay page.

Well, if I have emailed a customer or I can tell it is a customer that has won an auction, I open it - otherwise I ignore.