http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/30/nationwide-employee-sentenced-to-212-years.html?sid=101Agents with the FBI Cybercrime Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service found that Bi had sold more than 35,000 computer games with a retail value of $700,000.
The spreadsheet listed more than 50 eBay and PayPal accounts, all with different names. Bi told investigators he used other people's information on the accounts because eBay and PayPal had suspended his accounts and do not allow a new account with the same name and address as a suspended account.
Investigators found that Bi had sold the games from 2005 through December 2009 for $10 rather than the $20 retail price for an original new game. He also had allowed customers to download games purchased over the Internet, using a server he leased under the name TML Direct.
BNWT posted this link in the media thread, and I've just used this example in a thread about identify fraud in eBay and PayPal. This thread is focusing on something different... the "Wow, What A Bargain!" factor. I'll call it the WWAB factor from now on.
WWAB can give a false impression that the legitimate price for an item is overpriced. "I can get it much cheaper!" we might exclaim as we look at a shop or in a catalogue. But think about it: if someone is selling an item for half the RRP, how can that possibly be legitimate?
Sellers of such items sometimes use the line that they don't have the overheads of shop premises and staff. Buyers have this ingrained in them as well, so that it's a subconscious rationalisation for a bargain that's too good to be true. But the truth is that no one can afford to sell an item THAT cheaply unless there's something dodgy about it.
Possible reasons for finding an item online with a WWAB factor:
1. It might be fraudulent / counterfeit - copied by the seller.
2. It might be an imported fake (Chinese copy) - sold by the seller (and he might have "asked no questions" but that doesn't excuse him).
3. It might be the result of a theft - stolen from the shop by an employee, stolen by a postal employee, stolen in a break-in, somehow obtained illegally.
When we see an item with WWAB factor, it can pay to ask ourselves - "Is this too good to be true?" A bit of research about the price of an item generally can give us some idea of just how low the price could actually go if it were legitimate and the seller were making the bare minimum of profit. Clearly no seller can afford to give away an item for less than he paid for it. Clearly no seller can afford to make NO profit. So what is the minimum profit he could make? And what is the average discount / margin which a seller has for the item in question?
(A bit of research usually turns up the answer. It varies for the type of item.)
And if it's too good to be true, it cannot be true. These are the possible results if we follow through with buying such an item:
1. We receive a fraudulent / counterfeit / fake item.
2. We receive a stolen item.
3. We receive nothing - and the seller's skedaddled off to enjoy his profits for selling a non-existent item.