EBay users hit by alleged fraud ring

Computerworld - More than half a dozen eBay users last week alerted the online auction company to an identity theft and a series of fraudulent auctions allegedly stemming from Ukraine. However, the victims of the scam are accusing eBay of being slow to respond because of its 30-day waiting policy for accepting fraud complaints online.

Tim Bass, CEO of security consulting firm The Silk Road Group Ltd. in Centerville, Va., and a longtime member of the Internet security community, first noticed there was a problem after he won an auction for a Sony Picture Book, a combination laptop and digital camera. Bass' suspicions were raised after a good Samaritan online user in Germany notified him that the alleged seller claimed to live in Quebec, used a Russian e-mail account and requested that the funds be transferred via Western Union to Ukraine.

Fortunately for Bass, he never sent the $1,150 for the Sony system. However, he soon received e-mails from several other eBay users who claimed to have been the targets of the same individual.

Among them was Brian Murphy, an auction seller who discovered that his identity as a reliable seller on e-Bay had been stolen. Murphy and other victims of the scam believe that a Ukrainian cybercriminal, or criminals, stole Murphy's eBay account information and used it to run nine auctions worth thousands of dollars. Bass, Murphy and at least half a dozen other users have since contacted eBay but claim that the company has dragged its feet on the investigation. They have also notified the FBI.

"I contacted eBay immediately, but eBay has been slow and worthless [in] helping me," wrote Murphy on Sept. 29 in an e-mail to the other eBay users swindled in the scam. Murphy, who has a rating of "excellent" for reliability among eBay users, first notified the company of the theft of his account on Sept. 18. However, the auctions still started the next day, and "eBay paid no attention to this, despite my e-mails every day. They are impossible to reach other than slow, indirect e-mail."

Kevin Pursglove, a spokesman for San Jose-based eBay Inc., explained that the company will accept fraud complaints at any time through its Web site but that further investigation is initiated only when the investigation team finds that it's warranted. They're "handled on a first-come, first-service basis, and we get several thousand e-mails per week," he said.

As for the 30-day waiting policy, Pursglove said it only applies to insurance claims that are filed by users for items that are delivered damaged or not delivered at all.