Ebay fraudster jailed

An internet fraudster was jailed for the second time yesterday after using fake eBay accounts to steal £14,200 from customers of the online auction site.

Twenty-year-old Phillip Shortman received a two-year sentence yesterday at Newport Crown Court after admitting five counts of deception.

He failed to post items he had sold and did not pay for goods he had received, including a Vauxhall Astra and a laptop.

Shortman has already been prosecuted once for similar crimes. In 2005 he received a year's suspended sentence after swindling eBay users out of £45,000.

Yesterday's verdict should act as a deterrent, said Tony Neate, managing director of government online security initiative Getsafeonline.

'There are no statistics as to how much this goes on, but it is good to know police are taking note and prosecuting these criminals with substantial sentences because auction sites are one of the great succeses of the internet,' he said.

But Shortman is not the first to be prosecuted for eBay-related fraud. In 2003 another 20-year old, Aun Sayal, was sentenced to two years in prison for pulling exactly the same scam.

Getsafeonline has a page dedicated to transacting securely on e-bay.

See also:

EBay 'deceiving millions of users'

Class action suit accuses auction site of not giving users the full auction time  22 Aug 2007

eBay enjoys 50 per cent boost to profits

Results for second quarter show record leap in revenue  19 Jul 2007

National e-crime unit takes tentative first steps

Framework is being put in place  31 May 2007

Businesses may have to foot e-crime unit bill

Acpo lead on e-crime won't rule out a privately funded unit  03 May 2007

Over 10 per cent of online users hit by fraud

Average loss totals £875 per person in past 12 months  26 Mar 2007

Police limit e-crime probes

Lower-value incidents overlooked by local forces, say businesses  01 Mar 2007

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