Loyola Consumer Law Review Volume 18 | Issue 2 Article 5 2005 Schemes and Scams: Auction Fraud and the Culpability of Host Auction Web Sites Dara Chevlin Follow this and additional works at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/lclr Part of the Consumer Protection Law Commons Recommended Citation Dara Chevlin Schemes and Scams: Auction Fraud and the Culpability of Host Auction Web Sites, 18 Loy. Consumer L. Rev. 223 (2005). Available at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/lclr/vol18/iss2/5 This Student Article is brought to you for free and open access by LAW eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola Consumer Law Review by an authorized administrator of LAW eCommons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STUDENT ARTICLE Schemes and Scams: Auction Fraud and the Culpability of Host Auction Web Sites By: Dara Chevlin* Introduction It was a typical Sunday morning. Carla the Consumer opened her front door, picked up her Sunday newspaper, and began flipping through the Sunday ads. In addition to the usual grocery coupons, department store ads, and the funnies, a bold new flier caught her eye. The banner across the top proclaimed: "EBay: 10 Years! 10% OFF! 10 Days Only! Check out eBay's Top 10 Hottest Deals!" The page was filled with eBay's top suggested searches with a coupon code good for ten percent off each winning bid-for ten days only. Remembering that she needed a new handbag, Carla opened her Internet browser and visited http://www.ebay.com. She entered eBay's first search suggestion: "designer handbags." As the results appeared, she clicked through the items of interest.