posted on October 29, 2005 12:05:34 PM new
Hello,
From England.
David
Money transfer should not be for internet transactions, say police
Three Romanians who conned eBay customers out of thousands of pounds have been sentenced to a total of eight years' imprisonment.
The "cell" tricked customers into paying for £300,000 worth of fictitious goods which never arrived.
The man said to be the gang's ringleader, Nicolae Cretanu, 30, of Forest Gate, London, was given a three and a half year term for the fraud.
His wife Adriana, 23, and George Titar, 26, both got two and a half years.
The couple advertised everything from non-existent cars to concert tickets and used 12 aliases and an accomplice to collect the payments.
Their accomplice Titar, of Stratford, London, collected payments from money transfer shops.
Don't use money transfer to send money to anybody who you don't know personally
Chief Supt Nigel Mawer
How fraudsters stole £300k
The two-year scam was successful because buyers on eBay have to pay before they are sent their goods.
People were told by email that they had been unsuccessful in their first bid but were offered a "second chance" to buy a similar item.
But the goods they purchased never arrived and the trio managed to net at least £300,000 from the scam.
The majority of the cash was sent back to the gang's accomplices in Romania in what the police described as a well-planned and sophisticated fraud.
The racket was finally exposed after suspicious staff at money transfer firm Western Union alerted police.
Essentially safe
Chief Superintendent Nigel Mawer who led the operation said the fraud was operated by a "significant cell of Romanians operating in London".
"We believe there were 3,000 victims of this fraud and this type of fraud is still continuing."
He said that up to a £1 billion worth of fraud of this type took place in the UK a year.
Titar was considered by the police as the gang's "foot soldier"
And he issued a warning to potential internet auction customers: "Don't use money transfer to send money to anybody who you don't know personally.
"It is not designed for that and Western Union support that and work with us on that," he said.
Chief Supt Mawer added that the cell's accomplices in Romania had been arrested and were awaiting trial.
He stressed that internet auctions were essentially safe as long as customers followed the "good guidance" on how to buy safely.
In this case people were duped into not following those rules, he said.
Responding to the case, eBay issued a statement saying it was sorry that anyone had suffered through their association with eBay but pointed out the transactions had not taken place on the internet site itself.
The criminals used the site to gather information and initially to contact their victims but carried out the fraud separately
eBay spokesman
"As soon as we were made aware of them we took action. By working with the police we helped ensure that the prosecutions were successful, showing that crime does not pay on eBay.
posted on October 29, 2005 12:49:41 PM new
I am often amazed at how trusting we are buying on Ebay,merrily sending money order or cash to someone we dont know,or is it GREED!!
A nice laptop for the price of an electric pencil sharpener!!
posted on October 29, 2005 03:52:11 PM new
I'm often amazed at the number of times an Ebay spokesman makes the statement that fewer than 1/1,000,000 of 1 % of Ebay transactions involve fraud, but when the cops bust a crook, Ebay is the first to jump in and claim that their highly experienced anti fraud team was responsible for bringing the scoundrel to justice.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on October 31, 2005 04:39:10 AM new
Not really Jack.Consider this:
A buyer gets kicked off after 3 non payments are filed-why? Ebay doesnt get their money.
It takes a seller 11,000 negs before he gets shut down. why?-Ebay still gets their money as its considered sold and the seller still has to pay Ebay the selling fees.
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Beauty is only a light switch away
[ edited by classicrock000 on Oct 31, 2005 04:39 AM ]
