Harleys, Hijacked Accounts Used To Scam eBay Users
Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Used As Bait
POSTED: 12:33 p.m. EDT October 21, 2003
UPDATED: 7:29 a.m. EDT October 22, 2003
Internet scam artists are pirating legimate eBay accounts and reportedly using Harley Davidson motorcycles as bait to rip off users, according to an exclusive Problem Solvers report.
A Local 6 News story about Central Florida resident Georgeen Edwards and her online search for a Harley-Davidson Fatboy motorcycle led to an "expensive lesson in international fraud," according to Problem Solver Mike Holfeld.
"This is the absolute perfect scam, the perfect ripoff," Edwards said. "You don't pay taxes, you get all this money and there's no trace."
Edwards wired $4,600 to a man calling himself Stuart Hewlitt in Berlin, Germany, to purchase the bike in the online auction, Holfeld reported.
The money was picked up 24 hours later. And then the Harley and the imposter disappeared.
Edwards panicked and contacted eBay.
"What did they tell you?" Holfeld asked.
"They told me that that ID had been stolen -- that it was fraud and his (Hewlitt's) ID had been stolen and they were sorry for this misfortune"
Holfeld said: "Wait a minute. There was not an alert on the Internet?"
Edwards said, "Nothing."
Now, it appears phony auctions are being set up by account imposters, some using Harley-Davidson motorcycles as the bait, according to the report.
"You go in and check the reviews," Edwards said. "You make sure the seller is a legit person. You read all the reviews. Everything looked good."
Holfeld reported that more and more eBay members are discovering their accounts have been hijacked.
Industry insiders say 30 or more bogus auctions are running at the same time.
One motorcycle Internet site has issued an alert warning consumers about the international scam.
"Somebody's getting rich off of a lot of Americans," Edwards said.
Last year, eBay recorded more than $16 billion in online transactions.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
A Local 6 News story about Central Florida resident Georgeen Edwards and her online search for a Harley-Davidson Fatboy motorcycle led to an "expensive lesson in international fraud," according to Problem Solver Mike Holfeld.
"This is the absolute perfect scam, the perfect ripoff," Edwards said. "You don't pay taxes, you get all this money and there's no trace."
Edwards wired $4,600 to a man calling himself Stuart Hewlitt in Berlin, Germany, to purchase the bike in the online auction, Holfeld reported.
The money was picked up 24 hours later. And then the Harley and the imposter disappeared.
Edwards panicked and contacted eBay.
"What did they tell you?" Holfeld asked.
"They told me that that ID had been stolen -- that it was fraud and his (Hewlitt's) ID had been stolen and they were sorry for this misfortune"
Holfeld said: "Wait a minute. There was not an alert on the Internet?"
Edwards said, "Nothing."
Now, it appears phony auctions are being set up by account imposters, some using Harley-Davidson motorcycles as the bait, according to the report.
"You go in and check the reviews," Edwards said. "You make sure the seller is a legit person. You read all the reviews. Everything looked good."
Holfeld reported that more and more eBay members are discovering their accounts have been hijacked.
Industry insiders say 30 or more bogus auctions are running at the same time.
One motorcycle Internet site has issued an alert warning consumers about the international scam.
"Somebody's getting rich off of a lot of Americans," Edwards said.
Last year, eBay recorded more than $16 billion in online transactions.
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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