Craigslist and ebay Scammers Indicted

[HBarlow]

16 charged in international Internet fraud scheme

Kelly Cauthorn posted on December 16, 2011 13:34

Cut and paste from RV Daily Report news blog.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Federal charges have been unsealed against 16 individuals for their involvement in an international Internet scheme that defrauded online purchasers of purported merchandise such as automobiles and other items, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

The defendants are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and criminal forfeiture. Thirteen of the defendants were arrested in Las Vegas Wednesday, Dec. 14. Most of those defendants appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Robert J. Johnston Wednesday, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Several other defendants were scheduled for initial court appearances Thursday beginning at 3 p. m. One individual was arrested at Washington Dulles International National Airport in Virginia, and appeared before a federal magistrate judge there, and the remaining two defendants have not yet been arrested.

According to the allegations in the indictment, from about Dec. 2008 to Dec. 2011, conspirators situated outside of the United States listed and offered items for sale on Internet sites (such as Craigslist and Autotrader) and occasionally also placed advertisements in newspapers. The items offered for sale included automobiles, travel trailers and watercraft. The conspirators typically offered the items at attractive prices and often stated that personal exigencies, such as unemployment, military deployment, or family emergencies, required that they sell the offered items quickly. To gain the confidence of prospective buyers, conspirators posing as owners of the items instructed buyers that the transactions were to be completed through eBay, Yahoo!Finance, or similar online services, which would securely hold the buyers’ funds until the purchased items were delivered. The conspirators sent e-mails to buyers which appeared or purported to be from eBay, Yahoo!Finance, or other such entities, and which instructed buyers to remit payment to designated agents of those entities who were to hold the purchase money in escrow until the transaction was concluded. In reality, the entire transaction was a sham: the conspirators did not deliver any of the items offered for sale; neither eBay, Yahoo!Finance, nor any similar entity participated in these transactions; and the purported escrow agents designated to receive buyers’ purchase money were actually participants in the scheme who received the funds fraudulently obtained from buyers on behalf of the conspiracy.

Relying on the schemers fraudulent representations, scores of buyers agreed to purchase items that the schemers offered online and in newspaper advertisements. The conspirators kept and converted the fraudulently obtained purchase money for their own purposes. The defendants and their associates allegedly obtained more than $3 million through the fraud scheme, which they distributed among the conspirators both inside and outside the United States.

Defendants:
Eduard Petroiu, 28, Las Vegas resident
Vladimir Budestean, 24, Las Vegas resident
Bertly Ellazar, 27, Las Vegas resident
Radu Lisnic, 25, Las Vegas resident
Evghenii Russu, 25, Las Vegas resident
Evgeny Krylov, 24, Las Vegas resident
Eugeni Stoytchev, 35, Las Vegas resident
Iavor Stoytchev, 28, Las Vegas resident
Christopher Castro, 27, Las Vegas resident
Delyana Nedyalkova, 23, Las Vegas resident
Oleh Rymarchuk, 21, Las Vegas resident
Melanie Pascua, 25, Las Vegas resident
Manuel Garza, 23, Las Vegas resident
Ryne Green, 25, Las Vegas resident
Michael Vales, 22, Las Vegas resident
Edelin Dimitrov, 20, Las Vegas resident

The indictment identifies Eduard Petroiu as a leader of the conspiracy, and six others, including Vladimir Budestean, Bertly Ellazar, Radu Lisnic, Evghenii Russu, and Eugeni Stoytechev, as subordinate managers of the conspiracy.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 60 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million.

The arrests result from a joint investigation by the FBI and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as part of its Nevada Cyber Crime and Southern Nevada Eastern European Organized Crime Task Forces. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Timothy S. Vasquez.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Anyone with information regarding these individuals is urged to call the FBI in Las Vegas at 702. 385. 1281 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702. 385. 5555 or visit Welcome to Crime Stoppers of Nevada. Tips directly leading to an arrest or an indictment processed through Crime Stoppers may result in a cash reward. Internet related criminal complaints may also be directed to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Home.

SOURCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation

 

[MChrist]

Harvey, thanks for posting this!! I was wondering if anything was going to happen with this. . I actually was one of the people to contact eBay and let them know about a scam going on a couple years ago.

I was looking to but a new Yamaha Rhino and found one for an "unbelievably" low price. The transaction he wanted was exactly as you described above. Something didn't smell right, so I told him that I only lived a few hours away (I didn't) and that I could just pay him cash. I never heard from him again. Several emails later, no response. So I had my friend contact the same guy about the same ad, and got the exact same response I got when I first contacted him. When my friend said he, too, could pay him cash, the communication ceased instantly. eBay said they would "look into it" and I figured nothing would come of it.

Apparently this was quite a big operation...

Buyers Beware!!! If it doesn't pass the "sniff test" walk away!

 

[HBarlow]

They get away with a lot of that fraud because people usually don't report and pursue them unless they were dumb enough to follow through and were actually cheated.

People who are stubborn enough and tough enough to report them eventually bring them down. Your complaints may have helped bring these clowns down.

 

[MChrist]

I, too, wonder if my complaint had any weight. Maybe it started an investigation, maybe I was the 100th to complain and I was the proverbial "straw" in the camel situation...

As long as justice actually happens and less people get "conned", I'm a happy person. . my own X-mas present to myself!!

Another thing I learned while searching for, in this case, a Yamaha Rhino... if the owner of a vehicle like this has a "certificate of origin", that means that the vehicle hasn't been titled, and therefore taxes haven't been paid. So if you buy something like that and try to plate it, YOU are responsible to pay the taxes on the NEW price of the vehicle.

I didn't know that, and almost made for a bad purchase. Knowledge is power, and if I can help spread knowledge, or cause others to seek knowledge, I feel I've done my job.

 

[HBarlow]

I agree with all of that, and consider your last sentence particularly important.

Sharing knowledge is always beneficial.

 

[EDankievitch]

Awesome to read that some action has happened on this scams. I reoprted as well a few years ago andwas told by the officials that chances were that the people involved would never be caught. It's nice to know that J Edgar's boys got something done.

 

[MChrist]

Awesome to read that some action has happened on this scams. I reoprted as well a few years ago andwas told by the officials that chances were that the people involved would never be caught. It's nice to know that J Edgar's boys got something done.

Isn't it disgusting to think that their first response is " the people involved will never be caught. ". Actually makes my stomach turn to hear that. With that as their goal, it's amazing that they actually DID catch those involved!!

 

[BrianJ]

Another thing I learned while searching for, in this case, a Yamaha Rhino... if the owner of a vehicle like this has a "certificate of origin", that means that the vehicle hasn't been titled, and therefore taxes haven't been paid. So if you buy something like that and try to plate it, YOU are responsible to pay the taxes on the NEW price of the vehicle.

In Colorado there is no title process for a Rhino or ATV, or any other registration required with the motor vehicle department. Any sales tax is paid at the time of sale from the original retailer/dealer. If used on public/state forest roads or trails you do need to have a sticker obtained through the state parks department ($25 annually), but only for use on public land. A prival land or farm use machine doesn't need a sticker or anything else.



The "certificate of origin" and/or dealer issued purchase receipt with serial number would be the document(s) I would look for to assure proper ownership by someone trying to sell a unit.