eBay Scams Focus On Chicago

CHICAGO - Chicago has become a hub for huge Internet scams involving eBay, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. As many as 300 victims from out of state have filed complaints about eBay-related fraud worth millions of dollars.

One person was arrested for allegedly scamming money from people who thought they were getting a second chance to buy items off eBay.

Another victim actually mailed $10,000 worth of jewelry to a fake Chicago address.

Investigators said some scam artists use drug addicts and immigrants to pick up money transfers from out of state.


Geneva Man Charged In Fraud

An incomplete pass-off of a Tom Brady rookie football card led to the Friday morning arrest of a rural Geneva man for what officials described as hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of mail and Internet theft.

Mark D. Hoggay, 49, of the 39W000 block of Burnham Lane, in the Mill Creek subdivision west of Geneva, was charged with two counts of felony theft of mail and two counts of felony Internet theft after an early morning raid on his house by the Kane County Sheriff's Department.

Hoggay was vice president in charge of human resources for New Breed Leasing, of Bolingbrook, a private company contracted by the U.S. Postal Service to clean and maintain mail transportation devices used at sorting centers, such as wheeled canvas carts and hampers.

It was from that connection that Hoggay had access to more than 10,000 pieces of mail that were involved the incident, said Sheriff Ken Ramsey.

"This involved a lot of jewelry to all kinds of collectibles, such as baseball cards," Ramsey said. "Because of Netflix, he had a lot of DVDs. It was well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Ramsey said there is not an exact figure yet on either how much was taken or the value of the items because his department is sorting through "thousands and thousands of pieces of evidence."

It was the sheriff's office, led by Detectives Kevin Williams, himself a candidate for sheriff in November, and Brian McCarty, which conducted the four-day investigation that led to the arrest. They acted on a tip from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which had been watching Hoggay since December 2005.

The Postal Service turned it over to the Sheriff's Department because Hoggay lived in Kane County and worked for a private company. Although the company was contracted by the U.S. Postal Service, Hoggay was not a Postal Service employee and therefore not subject to federal mail-handling laws, according to Dave M. Colen, a postal inspector and public information officer for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Carol Stream.

"This is the first time I've seen this kind of theft, by a contracted worker to the Postal Service," Colen said. "Most of the people at this company were honest."

The situation came to officials' attention in December 2005, when a customer of the online auction house eBay reported spending $709 for the Tom Brady rookie football card, but not getting it. Then he saw a card similar to the one he purchased for sale on eBay again, Colen said.

Colen said the routine for a company like New Breed Leasing, when servicing mail devices, is to first check if there is any mail accidentally left in the bins. When it is, the company is supposed to collect it, keep it and give it back to the Postal Service. He said the company collected it and put it in a locked room, but Hoggay had a key to the room.

"Regional sorting facilities handle millions and millions of pieces of mail by hand," he said. "Periodically, pieces get stuck." Ramsey said the reason the Sheriff's Department acted as quickly as it did was because there was an indication Hoggay was leaving his job with New Breed and preparing to move out of town.

Ramsey said anyone who feels they lost something valuable that was supposed to be sent to them should call the Sheriff's Department at (630) 232-6840 and ask for Williams or McCarty.

He said people will have "to be very, very specific" about any items they attempt to claim.

Source: Chicago Tribune