If convicted, two more alleged cyber-scammers will bite the dust...
interactive.wsj.com
May 4, 2000
How an E-Posse Led to Arrests In Fraud on Online Auction Site
By JULIA ANGWIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Asad Husain sent a $2,380 check for two computers he won in an eBay Inc. auction last month, and expected to receive them in a few days.
When the pair of custom-built, 700 Mhz computers failed to appear within a week or so, Mr. Husain, a software engineer in Baltimore, got suspicious and went online to see if anyone else had tried to buy equipment from the same seller. He ended up forming a digital posse with other alleged victims -- and in a flurry of e-mail messages crisscrossing the country, they compiled enough clues to identify an alleged con artist.
Mr. Husain's virtual manhunt was instrumental in Friday's arrest of Santo Polanco, an 18-year-old student at the New York Institute of Technology. Mr. Polanco was charged with scheme to defraud in First District Court of New York. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and has since been released on bail. His attorney had no comment.
Wednesday, the police also arrested an associate of Mr. Polanco, 26-year old Eric A. Bilejhy, in connection with the case. He was charged with grand larceny, also in First District Court of New York, and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Police in Suffolk County, Long Island, say the two men raised at least $16,000 through fraudulent sales on eBay and other Web sites. The amount could grow as more information emerges. "Once word starts circulating on the Internet, these people find us," says Detective Rory Forrestal.
Faced with claims of fraud, Web-based auction houses usually refer victims to the local police, the Better Business Bureau, or the Federal Trade Commission. EBay, which won't comment on specific cases, says it cooperates with law-enforcement officials and promises to repay up to $200 to fraud victims.
Most online auctioneers advise visitors to pay attention to their rating systems, in which sellers and buyers are assigned scores based on the number of complaints or positive comments received from others. But as Mr. Husain found out, it's easy to switch digital identities to keep one step ahead of a negative rating.
That's what Mr. Polanco allegedly did with his company Blue-PC. The company used the name BabyHoax on Yahoo! auctions, and had racked up a poor rating by early March, with comments alleging it had failed to deliver several $70 computer memory cards to buyers.
In early April, Blue-PC started showing up on eBay as bluelongisland@aol.com. When Mr. Husain ordered the two computers from the company on April 6, he found no ratings for it on eBay.
Frustrated that the computers hadn't arrived, Mr. Husain did some checking. He determined that the company's name was Blue-PC because one e-mail address used in correspondence from the seller was BabyHoax@Blue-PC.com. He then visited the company's Web site, where he followed a link to Yahoo Auctions, and discovered the poor rating. "I put two and two together and saw they were playing games," says Mr. Husain, 37 years old.
His next stop: the Network Solutions Inc. Web site, which lists the owner of every Web domain name. He found that the Blue-PC Web site was registered to a Mildred Cruz in Manhattan. When he called her house, a man answering told him Mr. Polanco wasn't there.
Next, he looked up everyone on eBay who had ever bid on a Blue Long Island auction. He found them by going to each auction's history and reading the e-mail addresses of each bidder. He e-mailed all of them, asking if any had had problems.
He also posted on eBay a negative rating about Blue Long Island, prompting others to come forward with their stories. Altogether, Mr. Husain contacted two dozen eBay users nationwide. Gripes poured in. Craig Mussulman, a 31-year-old Texas resident who says he paid $1,445 for a computer that didn't arrive, wrote that he wanted to "assist you in nailing this guy."
Armed with more information, Mr. Husain called Ms. Cruz's home again. This time, he says, she told him Mr. Polanco was her son, a student at the New York Institute of Technology in Long Island, and gave him her son's address and phone number at school.
Rather than go to the police, Mr. Husain wanted to give Mr. Polanco one more chance. Given his age, says Mr. Husain, "I didn't want to ruin his future."
Mr. Husain sent an e-mail to Mr. Polanco, warning: "You are in a lot of trouble. You have scammed numerous people and many of them are now calling your mother to try and find you ... You can't hide from this." Mr. Husain says Mr. Polanco didn't respond.
Other winning bidders weren't so patient. Mr. Mussulman, a father of five in Elmendorf, Texas, had been waiting for his computer since March 21. When he learned Mr. Polanco was a student, he says he called the school to complain, and was referred to the Suffolk County Police Department.
Mr. Mussulman then sent the police a 40-page printout of his e-mail correspondence and alerted other alleged victims to forward their information as well. Detective Forrestal says he is now sorting through e-mail, preparing for an expected indictment.
And what happened to the money? Mr. Forrestal says he has evidence that Mr. Polanco and Mr. Bilejhy spent $9,000 on drinks and entertainment on a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Messrs. Polanco and Bilejhy couldn't be reached for comment.
Write to Julia Angwin at julia.angwin@wsj.com
KJC |
