14 DAY TRIAL // Derrick Lee Swantz, 57, of Lakewood, Colorado, has been sentenced to 52 months in a federal prison and the payment of $252,349 in restitution after he was found guilty of one count of mail fraud and 27 counts of wire fraud. Between 2003 and 2005, he swindled money from eBay and Autotrader.com users by organizing auctions for various automobiles that he did not own.
Some of the cars listed for sale by Swantz on the two websites included a 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SE, a 2001 Mercedes-Benz S500, a 2002 Mercedes-Benz S500, and a 1997 Infiniti Q45. Upon being contacted by phone and e-mail by his future victims, he convinced them into sending money to his bank accounts, totaling over $121,000.
In a separate scheme, the scammer lured users into writing him checks for various sums of money, representing investments into an alleged business with refurbished Xerox copier machines. Swantz presented himself to his victims as someone knowledgeable about such devices and claimed that he was able to acquire old Xerox devices at very low prices, repair them and sell them for profits. This particular scheme proved more profitable than the cars one, earning him some $137,000.
According to the bank records, the 57-year-old fraudster used his illegal gains to buy stocks, make cash withdrawals, or travel. He was indicted in October 2007, subsequently found guilty in January this year, and sentenced on April 24.
The Chicago FBI Office is searching for another eBay scammer who has been at the top of its list of most-wanted criminals for the past two years. Lucian Nanau, 44, hailing from Romania, is accused of leading a gang of criminals who organized fake auctions on eBay, defrauding over 2,000 users of an estimated $5 million. He is also known as Scarface (because of a large scar on his left cheek), Philip Dormier, or Joe Mayers.
Two more Romanian nationals who have been members of the same criminal group are also wanted by the FBI. Their names are Constantin Remus Lucan, 42, also known as Dorel, Giuseppe Giovanni, or Massimo Proetti, and Bela Balint, aged 27, who's aliases include Bebe or George Blumann. A reward of $5,000 has been announced for information leading to the arrest of any of the three
Update: This article has been modified to reflect the correct reward for information of the whereabouts of Lucian Nanau, which is $5,000 and not $10,000, as previously stated.