Buyers (and Bidders) Beware!

The buyers in this example used cash to pay the seller, but others who used Paypal instead were eventually able to recoup their losses. Reporting one's losses on the Internet to the local authorities has proven less than helpful, as most local law enforcement agencies are not equipped or funded to handle Internet fraud. If you can document your transaction with dates, e-mail addresses, any correspondence you might have had with the seller, you could send this to your State Attorney General's department of business fraud. The FBI has an excellent Web site for reporting Internet Fraud, Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC).

While eBay won't reveal its user numbers, some estimate that 35 million people regularly buy and sell at online auctions including Yahoo, Amazon, and many niche-market sites where collectors are bound to gather. EBay claims that fraudulent transactions account for no more than 0.01 percent of the total. Still, that's a great many people who are unhappy with their experiences and a great deal of money lost by them. The National Consumers League's Internet Fraud Watch reported that after several years of decline, online auction complaints soared in 2002, accounting for 87 percent of all Internet fraud complaints it received. The league said Internet fraud last year cost consumers $7,209,196, which they calculated at $484 per victim.2

Another incident at eBay involved the "hijacking" of a legitimate auction. After the items were successfully sold and delivered to the buyer, the same items with the same product description and photograph were listed for sale again on eBay under a different user name. It was discovered that an individual - apparently from Buzau, Romania - had created a fictitious auction with the photo and description and was asking people to send money by Western Union.3

One of the most common scams happens when either a buyer accepts payment for an item and then does not deliver it, or when a seller changes his mind and refuses to pay. While some law enforcement agencies, with eBay's assistance, have successfully found and prosecuted these criminals, many more slip through their hands. It is easy to simply change one's e-mail address and start over again with another name and ID, and it is even easier to escape the law when one operates

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