Seller Fraud: Major eBay Masquerade Ends!
Photo by: oceanaris
East Lancashire Police ended a nine-month hunt last month by taking in a Nelson resident as a trophy. The law enforcement agency arrested Jonathan Hartley last month and has charged him with involvement in a large fraud that allegedly netted him £90,000.
Jonathan Hartley is accused of conning more than 1600 individuals by collecting payment for goods he never delivered. He is said to have done all of this using his innumerable false identities registered with eBay. Memory add-ons was his favorite product. He is said to have beguiled many eBay users into paying to buy it from him.
Presently he stands accused of money laundering and trading in fake goods. He is expected to face further charges before his case comes up for hearing on 12 May.
eBay has unveiled its Identity Confirmation program that promises to reduce such seller fraud at the online auction site.
This is a new initiative from eBay also revealed last month. It prevents fraudsters from using stolen identities of regular users of eBay. Beginning June, eBay is slated to start collecting information about users, especially their trading habits.
It would make a note of such particulars as the computer that visitors use while trading on eBay. The system is alerted to a fraud when it finds a user trading from a machine other than the one he has used in the past to carry out successful transactions. In such a case, the company will give a call to the user and ascertain whether the transaction was genuine.
Sellers at eBay would be required to submit their landline numbers and, optionally their mobile numbers as well, as a part of this program.
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