Teen eBay scammer jailed for nearly three years

A US teenager has been fined and sentenced to time in jail after committing fraud via online auction site eBay.

The 19-year-old from California has been sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 after repeatedly offering goods for sale, including mobile phones, collecting payment and never actually sending out any goods to the auction winners.

The young man was also found guilty of bank fraud after trying to convince a member of one bank's staff to cash the cheques he received from the unlucky eBay users and to wire $400,000 to an overseas account.

He also asked the Wells Fargo employee if he could use the money from a customer's account to gamble with and return it before the customer noticed.

At the age of 17, he was found by the authorities to be involved in another internet scam – taking over $1m off punters to use in online betting after telling them he had tips that 'couldn't lose'.