Romanian Pleads Guilty to Role in $2.7M EBay Scam

Published on 02-18-2011 04:35 AM

A Romanian man has pleaded guilty to participating in a well-organized scam that took in about US$2.7 million from unsuspecting users of online marketplaces such as eBay, Craigslist and AutoTrader.com.

Adrian Ghighina, 33, of Bucharest, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy, bank fraud and money laundering charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Illinois, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

Prosecutors say Ghighina was a money mule whose job was to pick up cash wired to him by online buyers who thought they were purchasing cars, RVs, and motorcycles from legitimate sellers. He is one of 11 people charged in the scam, which dates back to November 2004.
Ghighina's crew used a variety of tricks to fool people into sending their money, typically via Western Union. They hijacked legitimate eBay accounts, sent buyers fake "second chance" offers, or pretended people's money would be held in escrow until the goods they bought were delivered.

These scams are still a big problem for online marketplaces. In fact, Craigslist advises its users to never wire money because "anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer."

The gang took money from 1,100 victims, according to court documents.
As payment, Ghighina would keep between 20 percent and 40 percent of the cash wired to him, which often totalled thousands of dollars at a time.
He is due to be sentenced on May 9 and faces 20 years in prison. Ghighina has already been given a 27-month sentence in Florida for wire and visa fraud.

Source: Yahoo

Categories:
Internet

11 Comments

Tarom - 02-18-2011, 08:00 AM
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Why would anyone send money over Western Union to pay for Ebay goods? Thats just spells trouble...

cibu - 02-18-2011, 04:41 PM
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Go Go romania!! Makes me proud that I am a romanian who said romania sucks and we are not smart ? If we can convince ebay buyers that escrow really is safe and that Western Union is the way to go , what can't we do ?

godofhell - 02-18-2011, 05:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Tarom

Why would anyone send money over Western Union to pay for Ebay goods? Thats just spells trouble...

that spells STUPID hehe

brilman - 02-18-2011, 06:28 PM
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Originally Posted by cibu

Go Go romania!! Makes me proud that I am a romanian who said romania sucks and we are not smart ? If we can convince ebay buyers that escrow really is safe and that Western Union is the way to go , what can't we do ?

Have to give ya points for that, If ya find a sucker lick it

xuxoxux - 02-18-2011, 08:54 PM
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Originally Posted by cibu

Go Go romania!! Makes me proud that I am a romanian who said romania sucks and we are not smart ? If we can convince ebay buyers that escrow really is safe and that Western Union is the way to go , what can't we do ?

And you silly Romanians wonder why the people of the world hate you......

xuxoxux

PS,
I was proven wrong when I thought Romanians were only cheaters/scammers in the torrent world. Seems the "IRL" tags applies. Not something to be happy about you know....

krackt - 02-19-2011, 12:23 AM
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Originally Posted by cibu

who said romania sucks and we are not smart ?

thieving scum gets caught, rots in jail for 10 ten years... yeah real smart.

Cabalo - 02-19-2011, 03:53 PM
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Originally Posted by cibu

Go Go romania!! Makes me proud that I am a romanian who said romania sucks and we are not smart ? If we can convince ebay buyers that escrow really is safe and that Western Union is the way to go , what can't we do ?

How come is he smart if he is rotting in jail now? Smart people never go to jail, which is not the case here.

cibu - 02-20-2011, 11:06 AM
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he was smart to pleed gulity . if you look at what the article says , the guy was something called "arrow " or as we romanians call it " sageata " . he is the middle man . And if he gets busted he has 2 choices : 1-Snitch and probably get smaller sentence or, 2 - Be a SMART man and decide that it is better to do a couple of years in prison , the sentence may be reduced , over time , and when you get out you receive the respect from all of the other peolpe you helped not get in to jail .
As I said , he is not just smart , he is Street Smart , because if he would have pleeded not guilty he would have had to snitch and probably ended up dead or in a hospital .
He knew what the risks were when he started and he knew not to ratt out on his friends .
What would you have done ?