eBay welcomes Bolton conviction

eBay today welcomed the sentencing of a Bolton woman who admitted acquiring thousands of pounds worth of property through the proceeds of her boyfriend’s fraudulent activities on eBay.

Louise Gregory was sentenced to 150 hours community service and ordered to pay £500 costs. Her boyfriend, Jason Hart is due to be sentenced on Monday 2 March.

Hart used Gregory’s eBay account to sell mobile phones, computer consoles, watches and tickets but buyers did not receive the goods they had paid for.

eBay’s Fraud Investigation Team has been working closely with Greater Manchester Police for over a year on the investigation into Hart and Gregory’s activities on the site. Investigators from eBay provided Greater Manchester Police with information from Gregory’s eBay account and worked directly with officers to provide evidence for the case.

Richard Ambrose, Head of Trust and Safety for eBay UK, said: “The conviction of Gregory sends out a clear signal to sellers who try to defraud buyers on our site that they won’t get away with it. We work closely with many law enforcement agencies, like the Greater Manchester Police to tackle unscrupulous sellers, as these individuals are bad for our buyers and our respectable sellers, and they undermine the trust people have in our site.

“We would strongly recommend that buyers on eBay pay for their item with PayPal, which is offered as a payment option on every listing, because this means that you are covered for the full amount of your purchase on the rare occasion that anything does go wrong.

“There are 17 million listings live on eBay at any one time and the vast majority of transactions take place safely and successfully. We spend over £6 million every year and employ over 2,000 people to keep our site safe and we will continue to do everything we can to tackle illegal activity on the site by working collaboratively with law enforcement.”