Bogus sale should serve as a 'serious warning' to online buyers
vnunet.com, 08 Dec 2004
A judge has warned that is "extremely easy" for fraudsters to take advantage of online auction sites, after convicting a woman of selling bogus Glastonbury tickets on eBay.
Sara-Louise Hambridge pleaded guilty to selling non-existent tickets for the festival, and netting over £3,000 for fewer than 20 tickets.
Judge Richard Bray, of Leicester Crown Court, warned that eBay users were an easy target for fraudsters, adding that the case should serve as a "serious warning" to online buyers.
Sales are currently based entirely on trust, said the judge, making it easy for dishonest traders to take advantage of unwary buyers.
Hambridge, a former Army payroll clerk, claimed initially that she had sent the tickets by post, but later confessed to her crime. She was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. The money has since been repaid.
EBay released a statement claiming that less than 0.01 per cent of its transactions were fraudulent, and that it has over 1,000 specialists working to identify fraudsters.
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