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iron_chick · 10-09-2005, 03:30 PM,

Anyone know if eBay has ever been charged criminally or sued civilly under the federal RICO statutes?

***mandy*** · 10-09-2005, 03:42 PM,

[quote author=rose link=topic=187.msg951#msg951 date=1124830338]

Quote:and the seller with 10,331 negs

Isn't it possible the only reason eBay kicked them off the site was to cover eBay's own ass in the class action suit?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/07/BUGA6C48E61.DTL&type=tech

To quote the article:

Quote:The suit accuses eBay, PayPal and Essex Technology Group., a Nashville supplier of closeout electronics, of breach of contract, fraudulent inducement and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

[/quote]

Quote:Auctionbytes-NewsFlash, Number 991 - April 07, 2005 - ISSN 1539-5065

eBay Charged with Racketeering in Class Action Lawsuit
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
April 07, 2005

Eleven eBay users filed a class action lawsuit against eBay, PayPal and Essex Technological Group Inc. The lawsuit claims the defendants falsely represented that bank accounts if used through PayPal would provide the same protection as credit cards, and plaintiffs were not allowed to exercise their chargeback rights. The lawsuit also charges that PayPal and eBay's activities violated the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act)

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m04/i07/s00

iron_chick · 10-09-2005, 04:46 PM,

Cool. Thanks for the info. I'll have to contact those lawyers.

My thoughts are a different variation of the RICO theme. I just briefly scanned it but it seems to address the scam sellers aspect but not other aspects that I believe also fall under the RICO umbrella.

My thought is that *just a venue* eBay . . . when it allows known hackers repeated access to its servers in order to continue to hack . . . when it allows known stalkers repeated access to its servers in order to continue to stalk . . . it becomes a co conspirator wtih those criminals just as it does when it continues to allow known scammers access to its servers in order to continue to scam.

Dang. The newsday link isn't working. I've have to search the info out!

Thanks again for the heads up. I'm gonna start working on the federal prosecutor on Monday. Wish me luck! Smile

bargainbloodhound · 10-09-2005, 06:09 PM,

There's a long thread on the eBay/BuyEssex RICO case here with some excerpts from the court filings:

http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/showthread.php?fid=3&tid=8037

The RICO thing might work here if eBay and the hacker were named in the same suit. I thought there was a good case for using the RICO laws last year in regards to eBay's harassment/suspension of sellers who complained after being overbilled in last year's billing mess.

Quote:The newsday link isn't working

They put articles older than 2 weeks in their (pay per article) archives.

iron_chick · 10-09-2005, 11:25 PM,

I have a friend who went through a situation similar to Pirate's the summer. A disgruntled NPB who took offense at a neg . . . and proceeded to set up about 100 different IDs. He'd bid up her auctions so he'd win. Not pay. Neg her.

This went on for about two months.

eBay's only suggestion was to close her store.

When she blocked his emails . . . he just sent them through eBay. eBay did nothing.

abbeyscarolinas · 10-28-2005, 11:39 PM,

Two victims from eBay's lack of safety this summer - pirate and iron chick. Both reputable sellers and outstanding eBay members. We have a printed copy of the eBay community values on our dart board Occasion14

This is why we have quit negging non-paying buyers. Just go through the unpaid item dispute and let them get their strike and be done with it.

We had a buyer a few weeks ago who made a purchase from our store and then canceled her bid somehow (per the e-mail notice that we got from eBay). Sent us an e-mail stating that her account had been hijacked and she didn't place that bid moments after the auction ended. Funny thing, the bid was placed 8 hours before auction end.

So, we let the four days go past the auction and then we sent our customary payment reminder e-mail. She reminded us again that she didn't bid - a highjacker bid and that Trust and Safety were aware. Knowing that if that had been the case we would have received a TKO notice from e-Bay, we just ignored her e-mail.

On day 7, we filed the item not paid dispute. Didn't hear from her for the entire next week. We closed the dispute on day 8 and got our FVF back. On day 9 she is e-mailing us saying that we need to intervene on her behalf because she had been issued a strike and that her account was highjacked and she did not bid on the item. At that time we called her bluff and sent her a copy of the e-mail we received from e-Bay on bid cancellation and to contrast sent her a copy of the TKO e-mail we received when an account is really highjacked. NArry a word since.

Rob

Anita · 10-29-2005, 02:24 AM,

We had a buyer a few weeks ago who made a purchase from our store and then canceled her bid somehow (per the e-mail notice that we got from eBay).

I didn't know that was even possible!

Anita · 10-29-2005, 02:25 AM,

Sick 'em, Iron Chick!
Where do we send donations?

bargainbloodhound · 10-29-2005, 03:24 AM,

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=740.msg2753#msg2753 date=1128881382]
There's a long thread on the eBay/BuyEssex RICO case here with some excerpts from the court filings:

[/quote]

An update to this--Essex has filed a $139 million lawsuit against one of its competitors (another large eBay seller) alleging the other seller setup fictitious eBay accounts accounts using the names of Essex executives and was responsible for getting Essex NARU'd.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=9&screen=news&news_id=45029