A 16-year-old Welsh teenager has defrauded customers of the internet auction site eBay out of the equivalent of $80 000 by offering non-existent electronic goods, British press reports said on Tuesday.
The unnamed teenager, who has turned 17 since being caught in October last year, used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle.
Neighbours on his council estate in Pontypool in the county of Gwent were astonished at his hiring of a chauffeur-driven limousine and his weekend in New York with friends. They stayed in a five-star hotel overlooking Times Square.
The boy added insult to injury by taunting his victims — said to number more than 100 — by e-mail, informing them they were waiting in vain for the goods they had paid for.
The non-existent items included mobile phones, computer game consoles and camcorders.
Paradoxically the fraudster spent much of his ill-gotten gains on precisely this kind of item. Police found computer equipment, music systems and flat-screen television sets when they raided his home.
Prosecutor Paul Moore said: ”He was not content with taking people’s money, he taunted them by e-mailing them details of how he’d spent it.”
He said the youth was ”addicted” to the site. ”It gave him a buzz.”
The teenager admitted 21 charges of fraud when he appeared at Cwmbran youth court in south Wales, and asked for another 64 charges to be taken into consideration. He will be sentenced later this month.
An eBay spokesperson said: ”We are one of the safest environments in which to trade.” – Sapa-DPA