Scammers and Spammers Beware

The popularity of internet auctions and shopping portals has come with an unfortunate side dish: the proliferation of scammers, spammers, and other malicious fraudsters. Luckily, the courts have stepped in, and many online criminals are being caught and sentenced. Just this August, a British man was sentenced to eight months in jail after parting consumers with nearly $90k in exchange pirated movies and fake designer shoes.

Last year, a notorious phisher (scammer) who conned more than 160 people into handing over their password and user names in response to bogus eBay security notices was sentenced to four years in jail. He and his associates assumed these identities to lend credibility to auctions of non-existent goods, raking in nearly $350,000. Over 75% of all phishing e-mails target users of eBay or online payments system PayPal.

For information on determining scams from sales, check out eBay Help.