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UK man jailed for eBay sting
ID theft lands him in the big house...

By Reuters

Published: Wednesday 02 November 2005

A British man was jailed for four years on Tuesday for masterminding an eBay auction swindle which stole computer account details from users and assumed their identities.

David Levi led six others in a gang which scooped almost $355,000 through a phishing fraud - the practice of stealing goods after tricking computer users into revealing their personal details.

The sentencing at Preston Crown Court follows a high-profile court case last week in which three Romanian fraudsters were jailed in London for a worldwide scam that netted at least $530,000 from thousands of eBay traders.

Levi, 29, led the gang who tricked eBay traders between July 2003 and 2004 into giving away their passwords and account details by sending emails to them pretending to be from the US auction giant.

Levi was already serving a sentence for drug offences. He was jailed for three years for fraud and another year for perverting the course of justice, to be served consecutively. The others were jailed for terms ranging from six months to two years.

An eBay spokesman said the company had worked closely with police in Blackpool "and as a result the offenders were convicted".