A student who scammed money off eBay buyers to pay his tuition fees has been jailed for nine months. Matthew Phillips, 22, from Bonvilston, Vale of Glamorgan, had offered non-existant and fake items for sale, making over £10,000. He admitted six charges of obtaining property by deception, and asked for a further seven charges to be taken into consideration.
Julie Flood from Maidstone, Kent, who sold fake holidays through eBay, has also been jailed, for ten months. She admitted 27 counts of theft. The judge said that he accepted Flood’s argument that she had not originally set out to scam people, but that her “scheme had become, in effect, a swindle on a substantial scale.”
Both Flood and Phillips had previous convictions for internet scams. Flood was given 80 hours of community service for selling fake handbags; Phillips got 150 hours of community service for selling fake Microsoft software. Then there’s this rather ironic juxtaposition from the BBC’s account of Flood’s court appearance:
Maidstone Crown Court was told she had a high eBay rating because she had previously traded handbags on the site. In June 2006 Flood was given a community order for selling fake handbags.
It’s disturbing that there was not some kind of order put on both scammers to stop them trading on the internet again, but it’s frankly astonishing that Flood appears to have been allowed to keep her eBay account.
3 Responses
“it’s frankly astonishing that Flood appears to have been allowed to keep her eBay account”
Sadly, I dont find it astonishing.
I cant be alone in thinking that ebay’s joyous membership figure announcements wouldnt be so gung-ho every quarter if they removed everyone dead, duplicated or guilty of ebay assisted crime.
“It’s disturbing that there was not some kind of order put on both scammers to stop them trading on the internet again”
No, it’s not. The legal system is hugely out of date with the use and abuse taking place online. What’s disturbing is the length of time it will take to get laws like that in place.
Well, I knew I’d find proof if I waited long enough: there is already legal provision to ban people from trading. It needs to be used more often.