Fifteen Romanian nationals have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges tied to their participation in a multimillion-dollar online auction fraud scheme targeting Internet users in the US.
A Department of Justice (DoJ) statement announcing the pleas described the defendants as participating in a scam where they posted false advertisements, typically for vehicles and other high-priced goods, on popular sites such as eBay and Craigslist.
They would then convince victims interested in purchasing these nonexistent products to send money in advance using what the DoJ described as "persuasive narratives." For instance, the scammers would often impersonate military personnel seeking to sell the advertised item in a hurry before deployment.
The criminals went to considerable lengths to make their fake auctions appear as convincing as possible to potential victims. For instance, the online accounts they used to post their fictitious products and to communicate with potential victims were often established with stolen identities. The invoices they provided to victims usually bore the trademarks and logos of legitimate auction and seller sites, such as eBay Motors and Craigslist. The scammers would set up fake Facebook profiles for the individuals who had purportedly put items up for sale.
In addition, they even provided call-center services, where members of the group would pose as customer-service representatives for eBay and other companies to answer questions related to a potential sale or to assure potential victims of the authenticity of a sale.
Any money that the group managed to extract from victims would be converted into cryptocurrency and funneled out to foreign-based accounts in a complex money-laundering scheme, the DoJ said.
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