Aussie users club together to get Ebay fraudster pinched

Wiki-nicked

AN AUSSIE EBAY FRAUDSTER has been tracked down and arrested thanks to a wiki set up by his victims which provided enough information for Police to charge him.

Chun Fai Tsang, a 26 year-old Sydney dweller on a temporary visa who also used the alias Timothy Tsang, was hunted down online by a group of his victims led by Melbourne IT worker Neil Moreton.

Tsang was accused of defrauding around 90 people out of about 150,000 Aussie dollars in goods – mainly laptops and gift cards - ordered on the Internet auction site.

The fraudster would let people bid for and order products advertised on his account, let them pay for the items by depositing money directly into his bank account, and then deregister his account. Ironically, Ebay had Mr Tsanf listed as having a successful selling history, his victims said.

Most of the victims were allegedly defrauded in May after depositing money directly into Mr Tsang's bank account.

Peeved at having lost $350 on a gift voucher that never arrived, Moreton embarked on an obsessive Googling campaign, after the only information Ebay could offer on the fraudster was his username (Hybrid.No.Paypal), a fake name (Y.Wang) and an equally fake address and mobile number.

Using Google, Facebook, Linkedin, Yahoo, and every other search resource he could think of, Moreton set up a Wiki where other victims pooled resources and shared information. Soon they had managed to compile quite a dossier, including his mobile phone number, his addresses, his history of studies and even a physical description of Tsang and his car from a victim who met him.

The information was passed on to New South Wales’ Gladesville police force who were amazed at the evidence the 29 complainants had amassed and promptly arrested Tsang.

"Just out of a lack of being able to do anything, I just made this Wiki and put it around and people responded," Moreton said, adding – rather redundantly - "I Google quite a lot".

What with all this investigating going on, we here at the INQ might wonder why Ebay itself couldn’t be bothered to look into the matter. Could it be that the Internet auction giant was trying to prove a point about its Paypal being 'safer' than bank transfers, by letting the fraud unfurl right under its hooter?

We couldn't possibly suggest such a thing, but feel free to set up a wiki on the subject. µ

Link: News.com.au