Notorious eBay crook gets 12 years
In one of the toughest sentences for online auction fraud, a US man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding hundreds of shoppers on eBay and Yahoo! auction sites.
Thomas Houser was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to one count of criminal mail fraud. More than 260 people lost nearly $100,000 in the scams after Houser "sold" electronics, paintball guns and other items through what was called the "Houser Family Store," collected the winning bids from auctions, then failed to deliver the goods. Houser, 25, avoided detection by moving from state to state, changing email accounts and using a private mailbox, prosecutors said.
--Lisa Bowman, Special to ZDNet News
In one of the toughest sentences for online auction fraud, a US man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding hundreds of shoppers on eBay and Yahoo! auction sites.
Thomas Houser was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to one count of criminal mail fraud. More than 260 people lost nearly $100,000 in the scams after Houser "sold" electronics, paintball guns and other items through what was called the "Houser Family Store," collected the winning bids from auctions, then failed to deliver the goods. Houser, 25, avoided detection by moving from state to state, changing email accounts and using a private mailbox, prosecutors said.
--Lisa Bowman, Special to ZDNet News
