EBay Scammers Busted

[rsatz28]

Web auction scam charged
8 Chicago-area arrests in scheme targeting unsuccessful bidders


By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter

December 13, 2006

Eight people were arrested in the Chicago area Tuesday as part of an Internet fraud scheme that allegedly included bogus auctions on eBay and involved millions of dollars, federal authorities said.

Some 2,000 people may have been victimized between November 2003 and last August, authorities said.

Prosecutors charged 21 people with wire fraud in a complaint unsealed Tuesday. In the scheme, which originated in Romania, people who were unsuccessful bidders at Internet auctions were given a "second chance" to buy big-ticket items, according to the complaint. Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Hayes said participants in the ring would contact those who had bid unsuccessfully in the auctions. "Sometimes they would offer the exact item that people had bid on previously, saying that the guy who was going to purchase it had fallen through," Hayes said, adding that the items varied.

"It was cars, ATV's, motorcycles, trailers," he said, "even farm equipment."

The victims were told to send money via Western Union to someone in the Chicago area, the complaint states.

Federal authorities began to unravel the ring in October 2005 when Gary Michael Schneider, 25, of Chicago, was arrested on a fraud warrant out of Minnesota, according to the affidavit of Michael Blessing, an FBI agent in the case.

Schneider had been recruited to join the scheme the prior July by Adrian Florin Fechete, 35, of the 6100 block of North Seeley Avenue in Chicago, the affidavit states. Schneider began cooperating with authorities after his arrest, telling the FBI he had first been directed to make money pickups at Western Union locations, and then recruited friends to help.

Schneider and those he brought into the scheme received fraud proceeds totaling about $356,000, Blessing's affidavit states. Schneider has been given no specific promises for leniency, Hayes said.

No goods were ever provided for the payments, and much of the proceeds wound up going to people outside the United States, authorities said. Those working the scheme in the Chicago area allegedly obtained fake identification to use when receiving money transfers from victims, several hundred of whom have discussed their losses with authorities.

The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Chicago police were involved in the probe, officials said. Investigators were able to determine the identities of many of those who allegedly participated by combing through Western Union records.

Those arrested in the Chicago area Tuesday included Aida Salem, 40; Jessie Vega, 25; Adrian Ianc, 32; Mihai Bledea, 30; and Igor Ashlan, 60; all of Chicago. Also arrested were Gianina Simon, 30, of Addison; Muszka Ladislau, 32, of Glenview; and Radu Rizescu, 31, of Elk Grove Village.

They are scheduled to appear Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez for a detention hearing.

The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago asked anyone who believed they might be a victim of the scheme to e-mail the office at [email protected].

Or call the toll-free hot line at 866-364-2621.

Hayes said the best way to avoid being duped in such a scam is to use common sense.

"Don't wire transfer money to someone you don't know or someone who's not an established retail presence," Hayes said, warning that doing so can leave consumers with little recourse if the person receiving the funds is not on the up and up.

- - -

eBay safety tips

Online business eBay offers several tips to prevent users from becoming fraud victims, including:

- Never use instant cash transfers to pay for goods found on the site.

- Genuine second-chance offers always come in the form of official eBay messages with the subject line "eBay Second Chance Offer for Item... ."

- Review a seller's feedback to get a glimpse of their history.

- Stay on the eBay Web site to complete transactions. Don't respond to solicitations that come from off of the site.

- Use a secure payment system.

[Hylton]

8 down, 800 to go......

[70-SS/RS-L78]

800...... More like 8000.....

[PeteLeathersac]

Dealing w/ these Romanian and other scammers remind me of the book we had to read back in grade school English called "Leningen Versus the Aunts" or some name like that? . It was a story of a guy who had a plantation in some Aunt crazy jungle area or somewhere and was continually killing them but it didn't matter how many you bumped off as even more would show up! . He ended up making his place into a man-made island w/ a moat around it to keep the aunts away but the aunts just began walking into the water drowning themselves to make a bridge for the other aunts to cross the moat over their floating backs...I think it ended w/ the guy flooding the moat w/ gasoline and flaming the whole bunch of 'em? .
See...we did learn something in School...hmmmm, I wonder if Geo. Bush read this book? .

~ Pete

[scott s]

are they talking about chicago in the u.s?? or is there a chicago in zimbai??? all those foreign sounding names sound like were talkin about a different country here damm!!

[x Baldwin Motion]

welcome to the NEW United States of America,
press one for english; press two for deportation

Chris

[rich p]

I like the footage in South America when the cop grabs a gang member and drags him behind the van and bang bang !!
Scum is scum. Need to rid us of these people !!