'notorious' Ebay Fraud Sentence

[Tokis-Phoenix]

"A 20-year-old "obsessed" with defrauding customers of the internet auction site eBay has been sentenced to two years' custody.

Philip Shortman, from Cwmbran, south Wales, was sent to a detention centre for another £45,000 eBay fraud in 2005.

The judge at Newport Crown Court said his deception "strikes at the system" of internet trading "as a whole".


Full Story;

http/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6956752.stm




I hope he gets a harsh sentence, although i think we do not punish people enough now days for their crimes in general.

Ebay has a seriously bad problem with fake goods and fraud and all that, and appears to do very little about it. I do not buy much stuff from ebay, usually just 1 or 2 things a month at the most, but i do often spend a lot of time browsing there looking at certain things sometimes.
And i can say for sure that it does have a very bad problem with fake goods in general, lol, never buy chinese "jade" for sure. The problem with ebay is that you can't look closely at the goods to examine them, and often the only way you can realise whether something is fake or not is when its in your hands up close. So i would advise people being very wary about buying stuff off ebay, unless they really know a lot about what they are buying etc.

And then you get the bad sellers- there are so many dodgey sellers on ebay, and it doesn't appear difficult to rip people off their money. Even i've had to deal with bad sellers- the paypal system is good, but its not foolproof, i've had to deal with some very sly people on ebay. And you can get bad buyers too- for example, there are those out there only to damage the feedback of other sellers on ebay- reading the exact feedback (both positive, neutral and negative) is obviously very important, but at the end of the day you've got to make up your own mind or not whether to trust someone with less than 100%positive feedback.
Hmm...

Anyone here ever had any bad ebay experiences before, whether with buying or selling stuff there? What are you opinions on the ebay system, and do you think it should do more to fight the criminals that are abusing its powers? Do you think ebay turns a blind eye to problems like the millions of fake goods sold on its site and bad untrustworthy sellers etc?

 

[KhaosInc]

Ebay really doesn't care that much. Press seems to ignore it for the most part, and either way they get paid.

I used to deal in parts for classic cars. Gave it up because I was sick of dealing with the buyers.

I've bought alot on Ebay as well. Everything from Fish filters, to movies to cars. Have had very few problems so far.

As the saying goes... Let the buyer beware.

 

[rdd1952]

If I buy on ebay, I always check their feedback. If it is anything less than 99.5% with at least 100 transactions, I don't buy from them. Knock, on wood, I have had nothing but positive experience on eBay. If you don't check feedback, you are playing with fire as I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that will rip you off.

 

[GuppyDude]

There is nothing Ebay can really do about it. When you create an account on there it even tells you that your purchasing from strangers at your own risk. The best you can do is check their feedback and hope for the best. To be safer you should also use Paypal, that way if you are scammed, you can get most of your money back. Ebay does keep track of bad sellers, and bans their IP if they are suspected of any kind of scamming.

I'm not sure exactly what this guy was doing, but 2 years sounds a little harsh. weather your stealing from people over the internet or breaking into their homes, it all falls under the same realm of theft. I certainly wouldn't defend theft in any way, but i think paying for the losses of their victims, and a little community service is enough. locking that guy in jail for 2 years with murders and psychos will only make him a worse person. Its a really messed up system IMO.

 

[demonmagus]

i don't think it's that harsh tbh, stealing from people is pretty disgusting

 

[Darkstar]

i don't think it's that harsh tbh, stealing from people is pretty disgusting

Agreed, I'd of given him double that sentence at least. He's an utter waste of space.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I'm not sure exactly what this guy was doing, but 2 years sounds a little harsh. weather your stealing from people over the internet or breaking into their homes, it all falls under the same realm of theft. I certainly wouldn't defend theft in any way, but i think paying for the losses of their victims, and a little community service is enough. locking that guy in jail for 2 years with murders and psychos will only make him a worse person. Its a really messed up system IMO.

Doesn't sound harsh to me, 2 years in prison won't make him a worse person, it'll show if that if he breaks the law he'll get punished for it like he knew he would from the start.

I think justice is often a joke in this country, people get less and less time in prison now days, and the prisons themselves are often jokes (they are better than the houses that some honest decent hardworking people get to live in- prisons now days have personal gyms, video consoles and tv to entertain prisoners, a variety of home cooked meals, free cooking and cleaning done for prisoners etc), so crime is rising people half the time people know that even if they get caught committing a crime, they'll probably just get some community service (which they probably won't turn up to) or an ASBO.

So i think it good that for once a guy who is addicted to scamming and stealing from honest people gets the time he deserves. Yeah, he might have kids and a family, but if he really cared about them he would have thought twice about stealing tens of thousands of ponds off good hard-working honest people in this society.

IMHO, prison is supposed to be a punishment, and if this guy doesn't like the company he gets put with in prison, then thats his problem.

Stealing, particularly on a large scale, is a really bad crime in my opinion- someone might steal a car, but that car could be nesarsary for its owner to get to work and feed their family- if their car gets stolen and they can't drive to work, they might loose their job, and their family will suffer for it etc. Even if you don't loose your job, the car could have a great sentimental value for you that can never be replaced, like you may have inherited it from your father who died many years ago and it might be one of the few reminders you have left of him etc.
Its not the best of examples, but having stuff stolen off you can be really devasting. Theives never think about the consequences of their actions of taking stuff off you, they don't care what happens to you. Putting them in prison for a decent amount of time will thus give them plenty of time to think about stuff like this etc.
I know the world is not as black and white as this, but thats my general opinion of most thieves, the ebay scam guy included.