Ebay "second chance" scams

Dosen't sound terribly complicated, a simple operation. I wonder how many others involved managed to escape arrest.

Chicagoans held on Internet fraud charges

By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published December 12, 2006, 9:38 PM CST

Eight people were arrested in the Chicago area Tuesday as part of an Internet fraud scheme that allegedly included bogus auctions on eBay and involved millions of dollars, federal authorities said.

Some 2,000 people may have been victimized between November 2003 and last August, authorities said.

Prosecutors charged 21 people with wire fraud in a complaint unsealed Tuesday. In the scheme, which originated in Romania, people who were unsuccessful bidders at Internet auctions were given a "second chance" to buy big-ticket items, according to the complaint.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Hayes said participants in the ring would contact those who had bid unsuccessfully in the auctions. "Sometimes they would offer the exact item that people had bid on previously, saying that the guy who was going to purchase it had fallen through," Hayes said, adding that the items varied.

"It was cars, ATV's, motorcycles, trailers," he said, "even farm equipment."

The victims were told to send money via Western Union to someone in the Chicago area, the complaint states.

Federal authorities began to unravel the ring in October 2005 when Gary Michael Schneider, 25, of Chicago, was arrested on a fraud warrant out of Minnesota, according to the affidavit of Michael Blessing, an FBI agent in the case.

Schneider had been recruited to join the scheme the prior July by Adrian Florin Fechete, 35, of the 6100 block of North Seeley Avenue in Chicago, the affidavit states. Schneider began cooperating with authorities after his arrest, telling the FBI he had first been directed to make money pickups at Western Union locations, and then recruited friends to help.

Schneider and those he brought into the scheme received fraud proceeds totaling about $356,000, Blessing's affidavit states. Schneider has been given no specific promises for leniency, Hayes said.

No goods were ever provided for the payments, and much of the proceeds wound up going to people outside the United States, authorities said. Those working the scheme in the Chicago area allegedly obtained fake identification to use when receiving money transfers from victims, several hundred of whom have discussed their losses with authorities.

The U.S. attorney's office, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Chicago police were involved in the probe, officials said. Investigators were able to determine the identities of many of those who allegedly participated by combing through Western Union records.

Those arrested in the Chicago area Tuesday included Aida Salem, 40; Jessie Vega, 25; Adrian Ianc, 32; Mihai Bledea, 30; and Igor Ashlan, 60; all of Chicago. Also arrested were Gianina Simon, 30, of Addison; Muszka Ladislau, 32, of Glenview; and Radu Rizescu, 31, of Elk Grove Village.

They are scheduled to appear Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez for a detention hearing.

The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago asked anyone who believed they might be a victim of the scheme to e-mail the office at usailn.victim.witness@usdoj.gov and include your name, address and phone number.

Or call the toll-free hot line at 866-364-2621.

Hayes said the best way to avoid being duped in such a scam is to use common sense. "Don't wire transfer money to someone you don't know or someone who's not an established retail presence," Hayes said, warning that doing so can leave consumers with little recourse if the person receiving the funds is not on the up and up.

jcoen@tribune.com

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