Broadband Comparison, News & Reviews

A teenager from Haslingden admitted that he was able to pull off an eBay scam worth ?96,000 by listing electrical items for sale that were non-existent.

Shofik Ali, 19, appeared at a hearing at the Burnley Crown Court where the court was told that he began selling on eBay by selling low cost items, until he had a trusted reputation, at which point he began to sell large high priced electrical items, which were never delivered to recipients.

Ali admitted he was responsible for the charges of conspiracy to defraud, and is now out on bail until he receives a sentence in November.

He was able to perpetuate the fraud by selling low cost items such as games, clothing, and mobile phone SIM cards, until he became a power seller and then sold high end items.

At this point he refused to be paid through PayPal, making excuses and directing buyers to wire money into a bank account set up in his name.
During the time period of his active scam between December 2007 and May 2008 he was able to scam more than 30 bidders who never received their items.

Out of the alleged ?96,000 that Ali made, ?75,800 had already been withdrawn from the bank.

Filed under: Broadband News and Reviews by Alan

EBay may not be the best place to sell a high ticket electronic device as security expert and chief security technology officer at BT Bruce Schneier found out as he attempted to sell a Sony Vaio TZ-Series laptop on the popular auction website.

His first attempt at selling the laptop was blocked by eBay who told him the sale was cancelled because the highest bidder used a hacked eBay account and thus the sale was void.

In his second attempt to sell on the website the lady who purchased the item with PayPal attempted to scam Schneier by sending the funds via PayPal and then disputing the claims and placing a block on his account to access the money.

Schneier commented that the bidder clearly expected that he would send the laptop in the mail before he found out that she had placed a hold on the payment but he received an email instantaneously from Paypal stating the account holder had disputed the purchase.

He commented that although he was frustrated with the eBay auction service and the failed attempts which he classified as a denial of service attack, he did say he would make a third attempt to sell the laptop because he really did still want to sell the used laptop.

EBay declined to comment on the matter, but for Schneier, perhaps he will find that the third time is a charm, although he is expecting to experience a third type of scam over a successful sale.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan

Andrew Alden, the 27-year-old conman who duped eBay users out of almost £30,000, has been told that all he will have to pay back is the nominal sum of £1. Last November, Alden admitted to having fleeced 49 people for £28,967. He was able to pull off the scam by posting false advertisements on eBay for tickets to the rugby world cup.

As the fraud happened a year before the actual event, buyers did not realize that they had been scammed until it was too late. The buyer protection program offered by eBay is valid only for 45 days after the purchase.

A specially appointed investigator who looked in to Alden’s personal finances concluded that he had no bank accounts and that he relied mostly on benefits for his expenses.

The investigator also reported that he was unable to find any item that could have been bought using the stolen money. Alden supposedly had debts, but what actually happened to the money remains a mystery.

Alden, who is originally from York, but currently resides in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, has been on Jobseeker’s allowance since last year. Prior to that he had been a student for a while and had had various part-time jobs.

During the investigation, it was that his bank account was overdrawn and that he had no assets which the authorities could confiscate. However, Judge Ashurst, who presided over the case, mentioned that if it were to emerge that Alden had any hidden assets, they could be confiscated at that time.

With seven previous convictions to his name, Alden is no stranger to the courtroom. He pleaded guilty to all charges of deception that were brought against him and requested that 42 other such offences be taken into account. Investigators not only failed to seize Alden’s ill-gotten gains, but his lack of personal assets even saved him from paying the court costs of £364.

Filed under: Broadband Scam Alerts by Alan