Thieves Made Millions On eBay

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A group of thieves got away with selling millions of dollars worth of computers and electronics on eBay before they were finally brought down by the cops. Credit also has to be given to the Best Buy security team that had their own investigation going and helped cops catch the crooks. The bad news is, if you bought from these scumbags…you might be getting a call soon.

And thousands of people who bought electronics from Jang's company, Nexus Systems Inc., are being tracked down and told that they will have return their purchases, Warma said. Many of the items were "high-end computers and cameras," including Apple laptops, that were sold for thousands of dollars — but just under retail prices — on eBay by Jang as "overstock."
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"are being tracked down and told that they will have return their purchases"

yeah i do not see this flying very far lawyers are going to have fun with this
 
FlatLine84 said:
It is illegal to purchase stolen goods...
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Yes, theft by receiving. If it is without prior knowledge then I'm sure the cops will not charge you with theft by receiving. I guess it really depends on the agency though.

I hope these bastards go down though. I've been ripped off on ebay before, it is not fun.
 
FlatLine84 said:
It is illegal to purchase stolen goods...
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Negative.

"State of mind" - If the parts were sold at a large reduction in cost, like 50% under retail or similar - then legal action would be possible against the purchaser... But, considering these were sold just shy of retail price, it would be reasonable to assume they were actually overstock.

Prosecutors have to have evidence that you *knew* the item was stolen.
 
Hey think of it this way, if they're giving refunds you could get back all 3k you payed for your laptop a few years ago and get a brand new one.
 
Isn't this plain dumb? The people who had their credit cards stolen were obviously report them as stolen. Using hot cards like this for an extended period of time creates WAY to much of trail.
 
In the article, the thieves were caught because of excessive usage of the same RewardZone card. That put them on BB's radar, and led to the Secret Service investigation.

Seattle police Detective David Dunn, assigned to the U.S. Secret Service-led task force, was able to track the thieves and tie the credit-card thefts to the purchases through an e-mail address that was linked to a Best Buy Rewards card that had been used hundreds of times.
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ha ha
 
If the buyer was a bona fide purchaser (bought it for aruond retail price and had no knowledge goods were stolen) then the purchaser gets to keep the goods. The only thing original owner can do is get the money back from thief.
 
Atl530i said:
Yes, theft by receiving. If it is without prior knowledge then I'm sure the cops will not charge you with theft by receiving. I guess it really depends on the agency though.

I hope these bastards go down though. I've been ripped off on ebay before, it is not fun.
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People who have never had a legal education really should not try to post about legal matters making stuff up.
 
Not nearly as bad as pirates seizing oil tankers and being paid $150 million ransoms.
 
Arcygenical said:
Negative.

"State of mind" - If the parts were sold at a large reduction in cost, like 50% under retail or similar - then legal action would be possible against the purchaser... But, considering these were sold just shy of retail price, it would be reasonable to assume they were actually overstock.

Prosecutors have to have evidence that you *knew* the item was stolen.
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That is true, and I doubt any of the customers will be charged with a crime. However, the stolen goods will still have to be returned to their legitemate owner, Best Buy. Also, Best Buy is not obligated to compensate the other victims in this crime. (those who purchased, however unknowingly, the stolen goods) It sucks to be sure.
 
Jared701 said:
People who have never had a legal education really should not try to post about legal matters making stuff up.
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https://www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/message.php?i=333403251&view=a

receiving stolen goods unknowingly

Q: I bought a large screen TV & just found out the person who sold it to me stole it from a roommate. If the roommate files charges will I lose the TV & if so Can I get my money back? This question is for a High School Law Education Summer Project.

Category: Criminal Law
State(s), Country: SC (FL), US
Posted: 6/6/2008


A: Brent Rose, Attorney at Law
You lose the TV, but you can sue the person you bought it from to get your money back.
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The buyers probably won't be charged with a crime, but the buyers won't get to keep the items either. It's the same way in California.
 
Like a thief is going to tell you the stuff is stolen on Ebay. It one thing to buy from a friend who you know stole the stuff quit another to buy something that you have no idea about.
I would be really pissed if I had bought a laptop or camera there and the police told me I had to give it back.
 
The people who bought the stolen items somewhat recently are the "lucky" ones. They can chargeback and not be out any money, but will probably lose their PayPal account (not entirely bad).
 
Jared701 said:
If the buyer was a bona fide purchaser (bought it for aruond retail price and had no knowledge goods were stolen) then the purchaser gets to keep the goods. The only thing original owner can do is get the money back from thief.
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That is totaly dependent on jurisdiction and/or value of the item, and in some cases what the item is. In many cases, no attempt to recover is made, due to it being more trouble than it is worth, that does not mean they are not entitled to.
 
A few years ago I unknowingly bought an L -lens for my canon film slr (yes that long ago).
Months later, the police called my house, explained that what I had bought was stolen, and asked me several questions about the seller. They told me I didn't have to return the lens.

But if it turns out that the primary and only reason they got cought was linking the email address from the reward zone credit card, they are greedy and beyond stupid.

How hard is it, to either a be happy that you made out with a million dollars, or at least use a few different email addresses for your reward zone credit card.

nes
 
pxc, look at my post again. Look at your response. My comment was about Atl530i's comment that you COULD be charged with a crime even if you DID NOT KNOW that they were stolen goods. This is 100% wrong. I will have to look back on my property notes but I believe you are wrong about the goods being returned to the original owner if the buyer was a bona fide purchaser. I'd advise against simply going to a random site which claims it tells the law and relying on that information... I do not know anything about lawguru or who posted that but in general that is not the best way to get legal advice.
 
Another question... how were they getting rewards zone points on stolen goods?
 
Jared701 said:
pxc, look at my post again. Look at your response. My comment was about Atl530i's comment that you COULD be charged with a crime even if you DID NOT KNOW that they were stolen goods. This is 100% wrong.
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I didn't read that far back. :p My mistake.
 
no edit button. I apologize, with void title even if he sells to bona fide purchaser the owner gets the property back. I finally found my notes from that class.
 
More than likely Best Buy will sue Jang's and get their money back for the stolen items and not go after the people that bought the items. We're talking about a lot of items here, not just 10-20. That's a lot of cost to track down and retrieve these items. Best Buy either gets the money for the items or the items, not both.
 
Jared701 said:
Another question... how were they getting rewards zone points on stolen goods?
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The RZ card can be presented with any purchase. I have an old laminated card, but the same number is printed on my RZ Mastercard.

I have the feeling that they may have been doing in-store pick up because there's less interaction that way. In that case, you can enter the RZ number during check out.
 
eh oh well, life goes on, pretty clever by them but they got traced on ebay.
 
Not a legal mind at all, but what happens if the victim of the crime filed an insurance claim? If the victim got back the stolen item, would he then also need to pay back the claim? Just curious.
 
Yeah all this really sucks for the buyers. They have to hand the goods they purchased over to a law enforcement agency with out any compensation at the time. Depending on what assets and cash was recovered from the thieves they might stand a chance of getting some of the money they spent on these stolen goods back.

Now as far as I know Best Buy gets the stolen goods back. However I am sure they are insured against such losses and have probably already been compensated for the loss. So I would think the insurance company is going to be expecting the money they paid out to be returned, or maybe the stolen goods will go to them.

Making matters worse, I believe the article said this has been going on since 2004. I suspect many buyers of the stolen goods may no longer have them. Some may have been resold, some items like cameras I am sure were lost, and some I am sure are no longer working and may have been thrown out. I can't even imagine what some of them are going to get put through.

On a related note I would think the odds are good that someone who is a member of [H] bought something from these guys over the years.
 
What idiots. They used a Reward Zone card for 77 stole credit cards? They probably wouldn't have been caught.
 
if u bought something u don't have to return it. and best buy gets their money back from the scammer? thats double dipping baby, no no
 
Jared701 said:
People who have never had a legal education really should not try to post about legal matters making stuff up.
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Way to be a douche. A simple hey man that's not correct would be been better. Apparently you did not read my entire post. I said it depends on the agency. If that person did not know it was stolen or there is no evidence of that person receiving stolen property, how can they charge someone with theft by receiving?
 
if the theives made millions, ebay made profit as well. What is ebay doing about all the fees they collected?
 
Atl530i said:
Way to be a douche. A simple hey man that's not correct would be been better. Apparently you did not read my entire post. I said it depends on the agency. If that person did not know it was stolen or there is no evidence of that person receiving stolen property, how can they charge someone with theft by receiving?
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Services were still rendered by eBay to the thieves. Seeing as their contract was fulfilled I think eBay is OK, same with paypal. Not that I agree with that at all, knowing paypal's shadiness.
 
LOL at that story. Some rag tag Somali "mother-ship" -- aka, a fancy raft, threatened to blow up a Talwar class missile frigate and got served.

I hope there is a video.
 
GORANKAR said:
That is true, and I doubt any of the customers will be charged with a crime. However, the stolen goods will still have to be returned to their legitemate owner, Best Buy. Also, Best Buy is not obligated to compensate the other victims in this crime. (those who purchased, however unknowingly, the stolen goods) It sucks to be sure.
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thats why best buy has insurance. IT pays for these loses. they dint get the stuff back.
 
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