An eBay jewellery merchant will pay US$400,000 in fines and restitutions for shill biddings its own auctions. The New York Attorney General’s office said that “Jewelry by Ezra” illegally placed around 232,000 bids on its own items, worth a total of about US$5million. The company has also been banned from online auctions for four years.
They listed jewellery items with no reserves, but, said the AG’s office, instructed employees which items to bid on, and predetermined prices. Spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe said that eBay “do not tolerate criminal activity and proactively assist law enforcement to prosecute any individual who may try to defraud our users.”
