Update on the infamous thebarry
Deborah Stevenson
downfall of thebarry, a seller with 17,000 positive feedbacks and hardly a
neg to his name when suddenly hundreds of customers who purchased
particularly unusual videos (from a collection he'd bought, reportedly)
found themselves out their money and without their item.
I arrived home today to find a letter from the Department of Justice,
which is the sort of mail you tend to open :-). The letter failed to make
any reference to any specific case, so I wasn't entirely sure what it was
about, but it gave me a number to call (phrases you never thought you'd
here: "enter your victim identification number followed by the pound
sign") to ascertain status of the case.
And it was about thebarry. If I'm understanding the different bits of the
automated system correctly, he changed his plea to guilty on the 8th and
has therefore been found guilty of one count of mail fraud; sentencing
will take place in January. It was supposed to give his custody status
but it didn't say anything about that, which may mean he's not in custody
or may just mean there was a glitch in the automated system.
I'd still like to hear the story. What on earth made this seem like a
good idea?
--
Deborah Stevenson
dste...@OBSTACLESuiuc.edu
[eliminate OBSTACLES to email me]
Kris Baker
"Deborah Stevenson" <dste...@OBSTACLESuiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:bnkdch$g4t$1...@reader1.panix.com...
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-metro16.html
(No longer online but cached by Google):
October 16, 2003
Guilty plea in eBay fraud
A Wheeling man pleaded guilty Wednesday to ripping off
more than 3,000 customers on eBay, the Internet auction
site, by taking their orders and money for videotapes and
DVDs and delivering nothing in return. Barry J. Rieger, 44,
will have to pay back $165,000 as part of his deal with
the government. He faces about 3-1/2 years in prison at
sentencing in the case prosecuted by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Eric Sussman. Even after he was arrested,
Rieger allegedly went back on eBay, in violation of his
bond, but the government has no evidence he ripped
anyone off at that time.
I didn't realize what his name was before, but I remember
this coming up a LONG time ago (this is from the early
1990s):
ALAN KAPLAN
JOHN PETERS
BARRY RIEGER
EDWARD WURDEMAN
July 24, Chicago, FBI arrested Rieger, a stamp dealer
and auctioneer, for mail fraud. The arrest was part of
an investigation into the use of false certificates of
authenticity for rare stamps. Kaplan, a former employee
of the New York based Philatelic Foundation which issues
genuine certificates, has already pleaded guilty to wire
fraud. Wurdeman, a California stamp dealer, has also
filed a guilty plea to charges of fraudulently using
false certificates. Peters, another California stamp
dealer, has also been arrested as part of the same
investigation.
Kris
RipCurl
"Deborah Stevenson" <dste...@OBSTACLESuiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:bnkdch$g4t$1...@reader1.panix.com...
> downfall of thebarry, a seller with 17,000 positive feedbacks and hardly a
> neg to his name when suddenly hundreds of customers who purchased
> particularly unusual videos (from a collection he'd bought, reportedly)
> found themselves out their money and without their item.
>
I really cannot believe that this happened, especially with him.
I bought about 150 different odd rare/oop videos from him
EACH transaction a A++ as far as I was concerned ( emailed notices when
videos were shipped; combined shipping when i won 2 or more of his auctions
at the same time; good communication ).
Just sad to see that people resort to fraud....
Deborah Stevenson
[snip stuff about thebarry]
>http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-metro16.html
>(No longer online but cached by Google):
>October 16, 2003
>Guilty plea in eBay fraud
>A Wheeling man pleaded guilty Wednesday to ripping off
>more than 3,000 customers on eBay, the Internet auction
>site, by taking their orders and money for videotapes and
>DVDs and delivering nothing in return. Barry J. Rieger, 44,
>will have to pay back $165,000 as part of his deal with
>the government. He faces about 3-1/2 years in prison at
>sentencing in the case prosecuted by Assistant U.S.
>Attorney Eric Sussman. Even after he was arrested,
>Rieger allegedly went back on eBay, in violation of his
>bond, but the government has no evidence he ripped
>anyone off at that time.
I just saw that "went back again" on another site, which also claimed he
opened a new PayPal account as well.
>I didn't realize what his name was before, but I remember
>this coming up a LONG time ago (this is from the early
>1990s):
Yes, I found that, too; can't tell if it's the same person from that, of
course, but it does have significant similarites, doesn't it?
Deborah Stevenson
>I really cannot believe that this happened, especially with him.
>I bought about 150 different odd rare/oop videos from him
>EACH transaction a A++ as far as I was concerned ( emailed notices when
>videos were shipped; combined shipping when i won 2 or more of his auctions
>at the same time; good communication ).
It's bizarre, isn't it? Same with me--in fact, it's a bit of a mistake
that I'm counted as a victim, since he actually returned my money.
>Just sad to see that people resort to fraud....
Just a guess--if he is the auctioneer/stamp guy, maybe it was less a
question of resorting than failing to resist the temptation of staying
away. This seems also reasonable if it's true that he opened an eBay
account AGAIN after all this.
I guess it can be hard to go the long way if you've liked the short cut.
Kris Baker
"Deborah Stevenson" <dste...@OBSTACLESuiuc.edu> wrote in message
It certainly does, *and* his entire name (with the initial)
comes up via google listed to a same-merchandise site,
although the text had changed.
IF this is the same person, and IF the plea bargain
was predicated on him being a first offender, I think
the authorities should know about it. I think they
should know about it anyway, and they can decide
before sentencing.
Kris
Ollie W. Holmes
this guilty plea, Ebay should ban him for life as a seller. Bad
examples like him sour me on the human race. Lies, damn lies, and
deceit will be the downfall of the US. Are you listening, Dubya?
On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate Meg Whitman for honesty
and integrity? 4. It is her lack of leadership that allows this
chicanery to happen.
Richard Ward
Based on what? thebarry spent a huge amount of time building positive
feedback and actually delivering product in a timely fashion before he
pulled his one huge scam. He had 17,000 positive feedback with very few
negatives. Exactly how do you feel that Meg Whitman was personally
responsible for not catching him before he did anything? Do you think
that eBay should run a criminal background check on everyone who signs
up as an eBay seller, or do you just follow the "I got burned so I've
got to find someone to blame it on" theory?
a. linklurker
"Ollie W. Holmes" wrote
> Well, I happen to be a victim he did not return money to. Based on
> this guilty plea, Ebay should ban him for life as a seller. Bad
> examples like him sour me on the human race. Lies, damn lies, and
> deceit will be the downfall of the US. Are you listening, Dubya?
Yes: he's a lurker.
> On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate Meg Whitman for honesty
> and integrity?
Is this a trick question? Is she naked or clothed, at the time of the rating?
link
sgsgdg
"a. linklurker" <stay.in...@remain.com> wrote in message
news:c7Esb.137992$9E1.697518@attbi_s52...
Link, I told you I don't want you looking at another woman! Behave
yourself. ;)
Rita
Curtis Desjardins
> Ebay should ban him for life as a seller.
And how do they enforce the ban? They can't even keep off the scammer
I keep turning into them. He's now up to 18 (or is it 19, I lost
count) IDs that I've gotten NARU'd for him.
Curtis.
--
Snootchie bootchies!
a. linklurker
"sgsgdg" wrote
> "a. linklurker" wrote
> > "Ollie W. Holmes" wrote
> > > Well, I happen to be a victim he did not return money to. Based on
> > > this guilty plea, Ebay should ban him for life as a seller. Bad
> > > examples like him sour me on the human race. Lies, damn lies, and
> > > deceit will be the downfall of the US. Are you listening, Dubya?
> > Yes: he's a lurker.
> > > On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate Meg Whitman for honesty
> > > and integrity?
> > Is this a trick question? Is she naked or clothed, at the time of the
> rating?
> Link, I told you I don't want you looking at another woman! Behave
> yourself. ;)
> Rita
Rita? Is that ~really~ you???! "sgsgdg"
link
Deborah Stevenson
>Well, I happen to be a victim he did not return money to.
Sorry. I suspect you all were considerably more numerous. I've still no
idea why he returned some buyers' money--perhaps those who might be close
enough to go find him got money back?
>Based on
>this guilty plea, Ebay should ban him for life as a seller.
He was banned for life based on his initial NARU, I imagine. I don't
think eBay or PayPal knowingly let him back on, if he did indeed return as
reported.
>On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate Meg Whitman for honesty
>and integrity? 4. It is her lack of leadership that allows this
>chicanery to happen.
Do you really think there's a way eBay could have stopped this? This
wasn't a hijacked account, a suspicious activity, a change of item. This
was one of the highest-rated sellers on eBay, who had seventeen *thousand*
happy customers.
Probably more people end up out money on ebay because of sudden seller
death than because of a con of this caliber. And frankly, you didn't see
it coming and I didn't see it coming--what do you think Meg knew that
would have allowed her to see it coming when we didn't?
While I don't necessarily agree with the points, I can see the arguments
for added policing of high-end electronic items, sudden changes of venue
in sellers, Western Union only payments, etc., and other traditional
badges of fraud. I don't see what defenses eBay could be expected to
muster in the case of somebody who spent half a decade and hundreds of
thousands of dollars' worth of business building things up before scamming
the customers.
To me that's the really frightening thing about this one--it's really not
something you can defend against. Which really sucks.
Ollie W. Holmes
> ollie_w...@yahoo.com (Ollie W. Holmes) wrote
> >
> > Ebay should ban him for life as a seller.
>
> And how do they enforce the ban? They can't even keep off the scammer
> I keep turning into them. He's now up to 18 (or is it 19, I lost
> count) IDs that I've gotten NARU'd for him.
Simple. Ebay owns paypal. If a merchant wants to register with paypal,
he has to answer the following questions:
1. Do you have a criminal record?
2. What is your social security number?
3. Have you ever been NARU'd for proven fraud on ebay?
What's more difficult than that? School bus drivers go through a more
extensive background check.
As for thebarry's defenders and the B.S. about 17000 positives, who
gives a shit? Hitler and Mussolini could have gotten this many
positives too, for the jobs they gave to the SS and brownshirts. It is
the evil you do that people remember you by, not the good.
If ebay doesn't police itself, it will get the whole online industry
in trouble eventually. Then the government will get into the act and
regulate the business. That's all we need, another cabinet department,
for internet commerce regulation.
Richard Ward
<snip>
> Simple. Ebay owns paypal. If a merchant wants to register with paypal,
> he has to answer the following questions:
>
> 1. Do you have a criminal record?
>
> 2. What is your social security number?
>
> 3. Have you ever been NARU'd for proven fraud on ebay?
>
> What's more difficult than that? School bus drivers go through a more
> extensive background check.
<snip>
And what good would it do? Do you really expect anyone to answer yes to
number 1 or number 3? Do you really expect eBay to pay for a criminal
background check on every one of their millions of active sellers?
What you're asking for would cost literally hundreds of millions of
dollars. Are you willing to pay the increased fees that eBay would have
to charge to run such a system?
One thing is made clear by your posts, you don't have a clue what the
ramifications are of what you're really proposing. Real multiple
jurisdiction criminal background checks don't happen by plugging a
social security number into a database, at least not in the real world.
Deborah Stevenson
>iloveyu...@hanmail.net (Curtis Desjardins) wrote in message news:<ea8c947d.03111...@posting.google.com>...
>> ollie_w...@yahoo.com (Ollie W. Holmes) wrote
>> >
>> > Ebay should ban him for life as a seller.
>>
>> And how do they enforce the ban? They can't even keep off the scammer
>> I keep turning into them. He's now up to 18 (or is it 19, I lost
>> count) IDs that I've gotten NARU'd for him.
>Simple. Ebay owns paypal. If a merchant wants to register with paypal,
>he has to answer the following questions:
>1. Do you have a criminal record?
No.
>2. What is your social security number?
Don't have one.
>3. Have you ever been NARU'd for proven fraud on ebay?
Nope.
Whee!
>As for thebarry's defenders and the B.S. about 17000 positives, who
>gives a shit?
One might similarly asks "Who gives a shit about somebody who so radically
misreads posts?"
Nobody's defended thebarry. Richard and I pointed out that that's an
extremely hard fraud to catch early. Presumably that's why it caught you
and it caught me, right? Unless you think we missed something really
obvious and were foolish to have bid.
>If ebay doesn't police itself, it will get the whole online industry
>in trouble eventually.
Cool. Then I ask again: what do you think Meg could have seen that we
couldn't that would have stopped thebarry before he pulled off his big
scam?
Deborah Stevenson
>>As for thebarry's defenders and the B.S. about 17000 positives, who
>>gives a shit?
>One might similarly asks "Who gives a shit about somebody who so radically
>misreads posts?"
I apologize for this. I don't mean that I don't give a shit about what
happened to you. But I do find it extremely annoying to be accused of
defending a fraudster when it's quite obvious I've done nothing of the
sort.
Curtis Desjardins
> > >
> > > Ebay should ban him for life as a seller.
> >
> > And how do they enforce the ban? They can't even keep off the scammer
> > I keep turning into them. He's now up to 18 (or is it 19, I lost
> > count) IDs that I've gotten NARU'd for him.
>
> Simple. Ebay owns paypal. If a merchant wants to register with paypal,
And what if he doesn't? I don't use paypal at all, either for buying
or for accepting payments. And I never will.
> he has to answer the following questions:
>
> 2. What is your social security number?
What about sellers not in the US? None of them have SS#. I don't.
> 1. Do you have a criminal record?
> 3. Have you ever been NARU'd for proven fraud on ebay?
Defrauder: "Um, noooooooooo."
(Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, so help you God?)
Dave Foley: "...And I would never lie to *God* about that."
> What's more difficult than that?
Want to try again?
> If ebay doesn't police itself,
And who pays for the 1000+ staff members it will have to hire to
police its site?
Curtis.
--
The other night, I was lying in bed looking up at the stars, and I
wondered "Where the FUCK is my ROOF?!?"