A Napier man has been jailed after he scammed more than $51,000 from Trade Me users in the biggest fraud by an individual to hit the website.
Eric William Rogers, an American resident in Napier since 2001, offered for sale goods he never intended to deliver.
Between October 8 and November 28
in 2008, Rogers listed 56 bogus auctions, mostly involving digital cameras and mobile phones, on Trade Me.
He was sentenced this week in the Napier District Court to one year and five months' jail after he pleaded guilty to two counts of accessing a computer system for dishonest purposes.
Rogers will be deported to the United States on completion of his prison sentence.
He registered on Trade Me as "digitaltrades" on June 9, 2008, under the name of an associate and traded with a good history until the offending began.
Fifty-five people collectively paid $51,873 into a bank account in the name of his associate. They did not receive any of the electronic goods Rogers had promised them, nor did they get back the money they had paid.
Rogers had approached the associate to open the Trade Me account and bank account after his previous account was terminated when he did not supply items he had sold.
Trade Me Trust and Safety Manager Chris Budge said the case involved the largest number of Trade Me users ripped off by a single individual.
Mr Budge said the website had prevented Rogers from selling items on November 5.
"That was a direct result of receiving five complaints in the previous five days (about non-delivery)."
On November 10, Rogers was banned from membership.
Mr Budge said website users needed to tell Trade Me if they had concerns about a seller.
"We advise people to firstly look at their feedback, look at any auctions they have done - see if they have address verification and ask questions themselves.
"Where is the product? What does it look like? If there are any concerns, use the contact icon at the end of the page."
