Posted on 12/08/2005 5:32:45 AM PST by Calpernia
FBI agents and state troopers in New Jersey have arrested 17 people as part of a sweep of online auction fraud.
Most of the suspects face charges of failing to deliver merchandise as promised or for selling bogus items. The items ranged from cars to baseball cards.
The three-month investigation was the first of its kind and followed fraud complaints by Web consumers.
Authorities hope the arrests serve as a warning for people to surf the Web carefully.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113402424798230.xml&coll=1
(excerpt)
Authorities had charged 17 suspects by yesterday afternoon and said more arrests are looming. They expect to release details of the case -- including names of the accused -- this morning.
Most of the suspects face prosecution on state charges for either failing to deliver merchandise as promised or for selling bogus items.
"They advertised everything from BMWs to baseball cards and then received payments for these items without ever sending them," said Sgt. Steve Jones, a State Police spokesman.
The list of promised merchandise could double as a letter to Santa. It included laptop computers, bicycles, cell phones, Rolex watches and car stereo systems.
Investigators estimate the loss to be at least $250,000 and hoped the arrests would serve as a warning to holiday shoppers: Surf carefully.
"With people buying even more items on the Internet, we want to make sure they think about who they're buying them from," said Supervisory Special Agent Tim Nestor, who leads the FBI's cyber crimes squad in New Jersey.
The investigation reflects the growth of the Internet as a favored playground for petty criminals and the reaction by law enforcement.
Agents and troopers began the case by mining complaints filed with the West Virginia-based Internet Crime Complaint Center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, a nonprofit support organization for law enforcement.
The IC3, as it is known, was established about four years ago to catalog complaints regarding Internet crimes and direct them to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
Last year, the center referred 1,935 New Jersey-based complaints to law enforcement. Nearly three-quarters of the consumers said they were victims of frauds at online auctions. The others reported frauds involving checks or credit cards or said they paid for an item that was never delivered.
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New Jersey has proven to be a more fertile ground than other states for Internet swindlers. The center estimates 15 Internet fraud perpetrators for every 100,000 people, enough for the state to rank ninth nationwide in the category, according to its latest report.
Many of the frauds that led to arrests occurred at eBay, the dominant auction site that bills itself as the world's online marketplace, agents said.
Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay, was unaware of the New Jersey investigation, but said the company works often with law enforcement, including in New Jersey.
"Fraud is very rare, but it does occur," he said. "People who try to use eBay in a bad way -- we want to see them get what's coming to them."
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Only 9th? C'mon gang, we can do better than that!!!
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