A cell of three Romanian fraudsters have been sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by deception and money laundering. The trio were sentenced in Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court, UK, after using popular auction website eBay.co.uk to scam people out of a combined total of over £300,000. Nicolae Cretanu, 30, and his wife Adriana would use eBay's Second Chance system to contact unsuccessful bidders and offer them the same or similar goods. The bidder would then be lured into paying for these non-existent goods by money transfer, which obviously Mr Cretanu never had any intention of delivering.
The goods offered ranged from cars to concert tickets. A large portion of the fraud's money would be sent back to accomplices in Romania, which police say was part of sophisticated operation. Nicolae Cretanu received a 3½ year jail sentence, while his 23 year old wife and their money laundering accomplice George Titar both received 2½ years.
View: eBay.co.uk
