posted on December 4, 2002 12:56:41 PM new
From KNBC4 LA
Man Allegedly Holds Fake eBay Auction, Defrauds Customers
Suspect Held On $400,000 Bail
POSTED: 10:52 a.m. PST December 4, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- A local man is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday in in connection with what authorities said was one of the largest online auction scams.
Chris Chong Kim, 27, is charged with four counts of grand theft and 26 counts of holding a mock auction, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Kim is accused of "defrauding customers on eBay in one of the largest Internet auction scams uncovered," victimizing customers on six continents, according to a statement from prosecutors.
Authorities said Kim had a business site on eBay, called "Calvin Auctions."
Kim sold high-end computer equipment over the Internet for two years, but in April, he allegedly stopped shipping merchandise.
More than 170 customers from around the world complained, according to the district attorney's office.
The criminal complaint alleges a loss of $453,000 to 26 customers, with the average loss estimated at between $1,900 and $6,000 per customer.
Kim was arrested Tuesday and is being held on $400,000 bail, said Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Fairtlough with the office's High Tech Crime Unit.
posted on December 4, 2002 01:27:01 PM new
Thats good news. I can only hope this guy gets fifty years in prison.
Lets hope the victims get most of their money back.
posted on December 4, 2002 02:57:53 PM new
I am amazed when I read these
1) Just shows that you never know when you deal with someone online. Here is someone with a good track record who just went bad
2) Unless you are willing to accept a loss, never pay with anything but a credit card (or paypal) Just yesterday someone posted somewhere he had something for sale, for $300. I was interested, and offered to pay with paypal, but he wanted a money order. No way (It was not an auction)
3) Even if you pay with a credit card, make sure the buyer doesn't drag the transaction out with excuse after excuse. There is a time limit to get your money back, and they know it. It can vary, but after 3 weeks of payment being received and not product, I would start the chargeback process.
4) What was this guy thinking, that he would get away with it? I don't get it. I also don't get the $400,000 bail when he defrauded people out of MORE Money than that. There should be no bail, or $4,000,000.
posted on December 4, 2002 03:10:23 PM new
Re: Bail, Remember this is a white collar crime & the amount is quite high for the average white collar crime. No one is in any physical danger from this perp. Remember the guy who bilked millions from the S & L a few yrs. ago? I believe his name was Keaton. His bail was only 1 million & he took millions.
posted on December 4, 2002 08:30:13 PM new
Tomwiii, you're making me smile tonight! Did you make a vow to post some political thing on every thread, no matter what the topic??? (I agree with you about T. Lott and the pretzelchoker, though!)
The son of a good friend just got taken and I thought I'd mention it here. He has always wanted a certain guitar. Got it through an ebay auction but OFF ebay (auction cancelled after the buyer and seller negotiated a price of $1,300). Seller had 4 feedbacks and shades. Seller wanted money order only. Buyer, young man, naive, sent it right away. Then nothing. Seller in Alaska, says he works in oil fields and will send guitar "soon." Then nothing. No e-mail answering, etc. We discover seller has been NARU'd.
Long story short, relatives in Alaska says this is a Native American young man, only 20, with a huge criminal record already. And he's made another buyer in the lower 48 so mad that he's flying up to Alaska to "collect his money." Fraud attorneys here are working on it, and the police chief in Alaska says the guy is no damn good.
So what we all know is that the guy can just register again with ebay under another user name and start all over, right??? Or am I wrong? This was our friend's son's first ebay purchase, and he *certainly* has learned a lot from his sad experience.
posted on December 4, 2002 08:36:47 PM newSo what we all know is that the guy can just register again with ebay under another user name and start all over, right??? Or am I wrong?
Sad part is that so many do come back with a new ID.
We can only hope that santa kicks the crap out of these losers.
