August 15, 2005 -- The casino was the winning
bidder in a highly-publicized eBay auction of a candy wrapper which ended on
August 12, 2005.
While monitoring online auction sites for the sale of illegal artifacts, Iraq
Museum International (http://www.BaghdadMuseum.org) recognized in the candy
wrapper auction a pattern it had been studying. Its line-by-line analysis of the
auction's bidding history, still posted on eBay, shows that the casino was
cheated by the actions of at least one other bidder.
Timeline:
1. On August 6, 2005, the high bid was $705 placed by a bidder using the ID "terrestrial_seti."
2. On August 7, 2005, the same day a press release was issued about the sale, a
bidder using the alias "keepitbidding" placed a $3,000 bid on the candy wrapper.
3. This action triggered automatic bidding on behalf of "terrestrial_seti" up to
the secret maximum set by "terrestrial_seti" the day before.
4. After placing the $3,000 bid, "keepitbidding" could see that "keepitbidding"
had the high bid at $1,411. "Keepitbidding" could now calculate that "terrestrial_seti"
had a secret maximum of $1,406.
5. Working quickly, "keepitbidding" filled out a bid retraction form giving eBay
the excuse, "Entered wrong amount." The retraction was automatically executed
just 52 seconds after the $3,000 bid was placed by "keepitbidding."
6. One minute later, "keepitbidding" placed a new bid on the same item, this
time in the amount of exactly $1,400, knowing that this would be automatically
outbid by "terrestrial_seti."
7. The ruse worked. EBay's automatic bidding system bid $1,405 out of the
account of "terrestrial_seti," just one dollar short of that bidder's maximum.
As a result, the high bid suddenly doubled. Like a wild fluctuation in the stock
market, this heightened bidder interest in the item, drawing thousands of visits
to the auction listing.
8. Undetected on a high-publicity day this scam touched off a bidding war which
led to the casino placing a winning bid of $2,815.43 for the item.
The online casino is the kind of "mark" targeted by such auction manipulation.
It is known for aggressively bidding on unique items on eBay such as the
tatooing rights to a woman's forehead and a grilled cheese sandwich reportedly
carrying the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The auction's bidding history reveals one of the longest lists of bid
retractions or cancellations in eBay's history. A total of 10 bids ranging from
$710 to $8,000 were cancelled by either the bidder or the seller.
This case study is a continuation of Iraq Museum International's bulletin on
"sniper traps" and other practices on eBay, as it formulates its recommendations
to the antiquities market and monitors the Internet for sales of artifacts
stolen from Iraq. To see supporting documents for the example above and how a
variation of the "Sniper Trap" played out in eBay's antiquities market, visit
Iraq Museum International at http://www.BaghdadMuseum.org.
eBay is the Internet's largest online auction site
Iraq Museum International is a volunteer organization created after the looting
of the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. It seeks to accelerate the recovery of
Iraq's stolen treasures by bringing the rich history and cultural heritage of
Iraq to the world. It invites the active participation of the Iraq
reconstruction community as well as students, professors, professionals and
cultural enthusiasts from all countries.
Contact:
John Simmons
Iraq Museum International
http://www.baghdadmuseum.org/
703 992-6689
News Source: PRWEB