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FBI Targets Online Auction Sites' Criminal Element

Posted by samzenpus on from the arrest-me-now-button dept.

coondoggie writes "The FBI has made a number of big busts using the eBay and other online auction sites this year. Today comes news that it played a big role in the indictment of an Alabama man for wire fraud. Joseph Davidson, has been charged in U.S. District Court with wire fraud in connection with an eBay scheme in which he allegedly received approximately $77,000 for stolen goods sold on the auction site. "Online auction houses present an opportunity for a thief to turn a stolen item into cash. Thieves should know that law enforcement can surf sites too in investigating crime," the FBI said."

2 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Fence Feedback by yintercept · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This article was about catching people selling stolen merchandise and not about fraud on ebay.

    I would think that fences would have good feedback ratings. It is not like they are trying to cheat the ebay buyer. A fence would want to get the stolen merchandise out of their garage and into the hands of the buyers as quickly and with as little fuss as possible. Since the entire sale is profit, the fence would make enough from the sale to expedite the whole process, package the goods well and communicate with the buyer.

    Someone who has stolen merchandise to sell would probably want to sell it with as little fuss and notice as possible. So they would have a good feedback. The complaints would all be about people committing fraud.

    It would be interesting to study the different feedback rates for different types of criminal.

  2. The $77k is worth noting by doggod · · Score: 5, Informative
    And the best of the fraudsters do note it. They know what I had to find out the hard way, that the US Attorney's office will not prosecute anything less than about $25,000 (the exact amount varies from district to district).

    Several years ago, I got stuck with some bogus cashier's checks. I think the amount was around $10k. I went to the FBI, I went to the Secret Service, I went to the Postal Inspector. They all work for the same Federal Prosecutor, and they all broke the same news, that they couldn't afford to waste their time investigating because even if they brought the culprit in he would never be charged. "The AG's office has to allocate its time" was how it was explained to me.

    Apparently the Feds are too busy prosecuting sick and dying invalids for smoking state-legal marijuana after they're brought in by DEA thugs http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reena-szczenpanski/m ultiagency-drug-task-fo_b_62401.html to be bothered with protecting the property stolen from nobodies like me.

    So, as I say, I'm pretty sure the best of the on-line scammers are onto this, and they carefully craft their hits to be less than, say, $20,000. It is, literally, a "get-out-of-jail-free" card!