The brave new world of online commerce is witnessing an outbreak of vigilante vengeance as cheated customers attempt to block allegedly fraudulent auctions on the Internet site eBay.
Although the electronic forum, which bills itself as the "world's largest marketplace," warns users about the dangers of online fraud and provides some payment protection coverage, it insists the "large majority of the thousands of transactions that take place every day on eBay are trouble-free."
There are 42 million registered eBay users worldwide and at any one time as many as 10 million items are up for auction. Such large volumes of commercial traffic have triggered growing concerns about online security and the vetting processes used to protect the marketplace from unscrupulous dealers operating from remote jurisdictions.
One common scam has been for sellers to set up a false e-mail account and bid up the price of their own items, such as cameras or computers, by sending in fictitious offers. Another has reportedly been for dishonest purchasers to urge rapid dispatch of goods bought so that they can cancel their electronic payments within 48 hours of agreeing the deal.
But the latest trend among those who believe they have been cheated is to take direct action if they can identify the same seller still trading online. The vigilantes have begun bidding high prices for items they suspect may never have existed in an attempt to spoil criminal conspiracies.
Some of the recent swindlers, who try to encourage unsuspecting purchasers to pay by bank transfers rather than credit cards or eBay's own PayPal system, are reported to be based in Andorra or Romania. In some cases, fraudsters are thought to have stolen the online identity of reputable traders.
The popularity of the globally-available service has also prompted the creation of markets in an ever-more bizarre range of commodities, including an 18-year-old student's alleged ?8,400 (US$15,300) auction of her virginity.
The craze for conceptual art and spoof products also led to one Briton putting his soul up for sale and another vendor offering to sell the meaning of life.
The passion for extracting vengeance has not proved popular, however, with everyone in the online community. Some believe not enough has been done by the California-based auction house to ensure the security of online trading but believe honest dealers are more likely to suffer.
"I see that some people have taken to making bids on auction items just to try to make a point to eBay," one contributor to a US consumer affairs Web site noted. "EBay don't care about that. The seller is the one that is directly affected by fake bidders ... Has eBay forced its own members to turn on each other? Some would say `yes.'"
Rob Chesnut, the vice-president for rules, trust and safety at eBay, recently told the New York Times: "We love it that people want to help, but there's a right way to do it and a way that isn't constructive or in the interest of a good community marketplace."
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