Auction+Fraud

== =__What Is Auction Fraud?__= Auction Fraud is a of a product being put for sale on various auction websites such as eBay or Trading Post. The main reason of why it is considered fraud is because once the person has sent the money; the seller does not send what the person was expecting or sends nothing at all. Another way of Auction Fraud is when the seller uses another account to bid on their object being sold to increase the price the object is sold for.

=__How Does Auction Fraud Affect People?__= Auction Fraud affects people by taking their money or more money than they would've paid for an object. The two main ways of Auction Fraud are, the seller having another account and bidding to try and increase the amount of money the object is sold for, and buy selling an object and getting the money for it but not sending the promised object. If the seller uses another account to bid on the object the buyer will have to pay more though the buyer doesn't have any real competition and. If the seller does not send the object the buyer will pay for nothing.



=__How To Avoid Auction Fraud__= To avoid auction fraud take this cautionary steps: Most of all just be careful.
 * Check the sellers history, see if anyone has commented about the seller being dodgy whether they didn't receive their object or had a hard time getting it.
 * If the price is too good to be true it probally is, double check everything incase there is something wrong with this seller.
 * Check other items the seller has sold, if there is one buyer paying a lot of money for all his/her stuff more than likely it is the seller increasing prices.
 * Always use popular sites as they will protect you more than random websites on the internet.

=__Steps To Take If You Are A Victim__= Steps to take if victimized:
 * 1) File a complaint with the online auction company. (To open a dispute on eBay) Go into My eBay and click on the Dispute Console.
 * 2) File a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
 * 3) Contact law enforcement officials at the local and state level (your local and state police departments).
 * 4) Also contact law enforcement officials in the perpetrator's town & state.
 * 5) File a complaint with the shipper USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex, etc.
 * 6) File a complaint with the National Fraud Information Center
 * 7) File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
 * 8) Send copies of the correspondance, emails, etc. to Consumer Fraud Reporting.

=__YouTube Auction Fraud Videos__= YouTube - Ebay Scam - by Complaints Board

YouTube - eBay Fraud Auction - by iwantcollectibles

=__Auction Fraud Flash Advertisement For Windows Users:__=

By Brandon Cutajar and Brandon Churchill