8 eBay Sellers Admit to Phony Bids
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. -
Eight eBay sellers were ordered to pay
nearly $90,000 in restitution and fines after admitting they bid up
products online to inflate the prices.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
said more than 120 people will receive restitution in the settlement of
the three cases, which wrapped up last week in state courts.
Spokesman Darren Dopp said the cases
stemmed from specific complaints, but the office has not conducted a
broad investigation of the online auction industry and doesn't know how
widespread the practice of phony bidding is.
One buyer, Brad Clarke, 48, of Peachtree
City, Ga., already has received a check for $3,089 after overpaying for
a 1999 Jeep Cherokee sport utility vehicle he bought on eBay from a New
York seller in 2002.
"I'd always been suspicious because it
seems like an easy thing to do, to just keep bidding up," Clarke said.
"But I was still just completely shocked and very surprised."
Three sellers were accused of making 610
bids on 106 of their car auctions under the user name "Mother's Custom
Automotive NY Dealer." They are paying more than $28,000 in penalties
and restitution, Spitzer said. Their lawyers declined to comment.
In another case, the operator of an art
auction house and two former employees were accused of bidding on more
than 1,100 of each others' eBay items for more than five years to drive
up the prices. Some paintings sold for thousands more than they were
worth.
Spitzer said one of the sellers pleaded
guilty to a felony charge, the other two to misdemeanors. They were
ordered to pay more than $50,000 in restitution and fines.
The other two defendants were accused of
making 170 phony bids on their sports memorabilia items. They agreed to
pay $10,000 in penalties and restitution.
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