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Chicagoans caught in eBay bust
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/170355,CST-NWS-ebay13.article)
December 13, 2006
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Colorado coal miner Alan Tweddell found his dream deal on eBay. Scrolling
through the Internet auction site in 2004, he discovered a Model A Ford selling
for only $2,500. He bought the 1930 classic and agreed to wire the money to the
seller in Chicago. But the dream turned into a bust when a Western Union
representative suspected the man picking up the money in Chicago was a fraud.
Western Union returned the $2,500 to Tweddell, but he was unable to recover the
$200 fee he spent to transfer the cash, said his son-in-law, Rusty Lofley.
"He was aggravated and disappointed, but happy he did not get scammed out of
the whole $2,500," Lofley said. Tweddell was one of more than 2,000 people
across the country victimized by a Chicago-based theft ring that answered to
bosses in Romania, authorities say. "This is as organized-crime as it gets,"
said Patrick McCafferty, a Chicago Police detective. "It just happens to be
Romanians." On Tuesday, federal wire fraud charges
were unsealed against 21 people, including three cell leaders who were the
alleged masterminds of more than $5 million in eBay scams since November 2003.
"This case is an example of using new technology to commit an old-fashioned
fraud scheme," U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said. Eight defendants were
arrested Tuesday in the joint investigation by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, Chicago Police and other agencies. Five defendants were in
custody, six are fugitives and one will surrender later, authorities said. The
investigation is continuing. Snitch helped investigation
One of the main players in Chicago was Adrian Florin Fechete, 35, a Romanian
who recruited two American assistants, Gary Michael Schneider and Jessie Vega
-- a man with 28 prior arrests, police said. Fechete was arrested last year
by FBI agent Michael Blessing, immigration agent Kenneth Popovits and the CPD's
McCafferty for allegedly scamming $125,000 from three people who thought they
were getting a second chance to buy items they didn't win on eBay the first
time, including a band saw, a motorcycle and a 1956 Chevy. In 2005, Schneider
was arrested on a Minnesota fraud charge and secretly started cooperating with
investigators. He told them that about 60 percent of the money the ring stole
was being sent back to Romania, according to an FBI affidavit. Typically, the
alleged thieves asked their victims to send their money through Western Union,
which does not guarantee the security of the transaction, authorities said.
EBay encourages customers to use its secure
PayPal system. 'Should all be thrown in jail'
The victims fell prey to three basic scams, authorities said: In the
most common, the victim had placed a bid on eBay and lost. The thieves would
send the victim an e-mail inviting him or her to participate in a
"second-chance" auction. Couriers, who often used fake IDs, would pick up the
money at a Western Union in the Chicago area, and the customer would never
receive the item. In another scam, the victim would receive an e-mail
from the crime ring saying he or she would lose their eBay account in 24 hours
if they did not e-mail back their password and other account information, which
the thieves would use to take over the victim's account. They would use the
account to rip off other eBay users. And in a twist, the thieves would
bid on an item on eBay, but would not buy it through PayPal. Instead, they
would persuade the seller to put the money into a fake escrow account. The
seller would ship the product and the escrow account would vanish.
Stacey McBride, a New Jersey woman, lost her $10,400 wedding ring that way
after she went through a divorce and auctioned it on eBay. She was happy to
learn about the arrests Tuesday. "I'm excited," McBride said. "They should
all be thrown in jail." [EMAIL PROTECTED]
