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eBay scammer gets four years

28 April 2009

A man convicted of swindling more than $259,000 using fraudulent eBay listings and other venues was ordered to serve 52 months in federal prison and pay $252,000 in restitution.

Derrick Lee Swantz, 57, of Lakewood, Colorado, was convicted in January of implementing two separate fraud schemes. In one, he offered luxury automobiles for sale on eBay and Autotrader.com. He used the phone and email to communicate with would-be buyers and directed them to make payments by making wire transfers or sending cashier's checks.

Once the payments were made, Swantz didn't deliver the vehicles. Among the autos he advertised were a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, a 2001 Mercedes-Benz S500, a 2002 Mercedes-Benz S500, and a 1997 Infiniti Q45. The scam netted more $121,750, according to prosecutors.

In the other scheme, Swantz claimed he could buy used Xerox copiers for low prices and sell them at substantial profits. He'd ask would-be investors for large sums of money so he could purchase and refurbish a particular machine. Victims paid more than $17,500, according to prosecutors.

Swantz was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver in October 2007. In January, a jury found him guilty of one count of mail fraud and 27 counts of wire fraud.

Source: The Register