Auction buyers beware: Net the newest place to hawk stolen goods.

From: San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) (viaKnight-Ridder/Tribune News Service) | Date: June 11, 2002 | Copyright information

Byline: Mary Anne Ostrom

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Sharon Cooney couldn't have been happier with the new WinBook laptop she had bought on eBay _ until she learned it was stolen property. Today, the Marin County woman is out $1,075, the victim of a Maryland seller who allegedly unloaded $350,000 in hot goods through eBay.

The reach and anonymity of the Internet have helped turn online auctions into the newest way to fence stolen property.

``There's no need for the pawnbroker. Internet auctions have suddenly become a really easy way to fence stuff,'' said Frank Dudley Berry ...

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