How eBay Works With Law Enforcement Around the World to Fight Crime
by Dave Steer
eBay's Senior Manager of Trust & Safety Marketing

The eBay Marketplace is rooted in the belief that an open, honest environment brings out the best in people. This openness – what we call ”transparency” – helps build confidence and enables strangers to trust each other in a transaction. After all, it's easier to trust someone when you know they aren't hiding anything.

Transparency has another benefit: It makes it extraordinarily difficult for fraudsters to hide.

So what happens when eBay finds that someone has violated our policies and the law of the land? Enter eBay's Fraud Investigations Team. Part of the Trust & Safety operation, the Fraud Investigations Team works proactively with law enforcement and government agencies throughout the world to apprehend and prosecute outlaws and criminals.

Recently, I sat down with Joseph Sullivan, our Senior Director of Law Enforcement Relations to get the lowdown on fighting crime online.

Dave Steer: Fighting crime for eBay seems like a pretty unique role. How does someone become eBay's top cop?

Joe Sullivan: Before joining eBay, I spent eight years working for the U.S. Department of Justice as a prosecutor. Most recently, I served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the San Jose Branch Office of the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. I was a founding member of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit, a unit based in Silicon Valley, where I prosecuted offenses involving computer intrusions, theft of trade secrets, economic espionage, and criminal copyright and trademark violations.  Before joining that office, I practiced at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada, Las Vegas branch, overseeing the investigation and prosecution of high-technology crimes in that district. In both Las Vegas and San Jose, I prosecuted eBay fraud cases.

Dave: Can you tell us a bit about eBay's team?

Joe: We have a top-quality team of folks around the world, dedicated to ensuring that anyone who tries to commit crime in the eBay Marketplace gets investigated and prosecuted. Our investigators come to eBay armed with the right background needed for this job. The team includes a considerable number of former law enforcement officials from agencies ranging from Scotland Yard, the Rome Cyber-Crime Police to US Customs. We interact on a daily basis with law enforcement, sharing our expertise on investigating cyber-crime, providing training, suggesting best practices, and facilitating investigations.

Dave: What do you think the biggest challenges or threats are in terms of online crime?

Joe: To me, the greatest challenge we face in terms of online crime is the rate of change in technology, and not any particular crime. We need the good guys to understand new technology and best practices for staying safe, as quickly as the bad guys learn to exploit it. It is a challenge to keep consumers and law enforcement adequately educated about risks and bad behavior in the face of the significant rate of change we are seeing on the Internet. For example, the crime of phishing (or spoofing), which potentially affects all consumers on the Internet, went from being completely unknown to being one of the most common ways fraudsters attempt to commit identity theft and fraud in a matter of months.     

Dave: While we believe people are basically good, you must see first hand that not all people are good. Can you share with us a story or two about working with law enforcement to catch bad guys?

Joe: Sure – the first thing that I'd like to mention is that we are going to start posting new case studies in the law enforcement section of the Security & Resolution Center. We're doing this for a few reasons: First, we know that the Community wants to hear more about what we are doing to catch bad guys. Second, we hope that publicly posting these stories will send a clear message to potential fraudsters – they need to know the consequences of fraudulent behavior.

We've been involved in many successful cases over the years. Recently, we participated in three separate New York cases in which sellers artificially inflated the selling prices of their eBay items, an illegal practice known as " shill bidding." Working with eBay, New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer caught the fraudsters and ordered restitution to the more than 120 people who had been affected by the inflated prices.

In court, one of the sellers pled guilty to restraint of trade, a violation of New York's antitrust law and a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. He also was required to pay $50,000 in restitution and fines. His two former employees also pled guilty to attempted restraint of trade, a misdemeanor with a penalty of up to one year in prison. In the civil cases, one of the parties involved agreed to pay $10,000 in penalties and restitution to the victims of the inflated bidding, and the other agreed to pay more than $28,000 in penalties and restitution.

All of the sellers involved were suspended from eBay indefinitely for their illegal acts.

Dave: Any words of advice for our readers on how they can stay safe in the eBay Marketplace and online?

Joe: I trade regularly on eBay, and I only pay by PayPal (if the seller is covered through PayPal Buyer Protection) or credit card, because I know that no matter what, I will get reimbursed for any loss that might take place. I would not do business with a seller who insisted on any other form of payment.