Pocono News Section

Internet Scam

Internet Scam - Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 9:50PM EST

Thursday, Jul 3, 2008 @ 09:50pm EST
WYOMING, LUZERNE COUNTY- Customers of an E-Bay Store were swindled out of thousands of dollars, according to police.

Police say the victims were hoping for quick cash.
Take their items into an E-Bay store, auction them on the internet site and voila!
But, police say that's not how it shook down.
And they're now out thousands.

Eyewitness News was there as police took a look inside an abandoned ebay business.
Minutes later...They removed a load of items out.
An old fashioned fire hydrant, lamp
And pictures were seized.
Police say Benjamin Waltman and his wife Kimberly sold more than 8-thousand dollars worth of goods for customers and never paid them.
"I think what the internet has done, we have real world crime and we have the cyber crime." says Mayor Bob Boyer of Wyoming.
"So this is one other example of how people can be victimized on the internet."

Neighboring business owners said Waltman was around for only a few months.

Mike Lippa told us "One time they came over and asked if they could use our internet access, which is a wireless internet access."

And Mike Lippa said that struck him as odd, knowing a business working with E-Bay would normally need internet access.

Austina Giamber added "He was booming for like three weeks.
And all the sudden, he disappeared.
We were getting knocks, people were looking for him."

Police said they were in contact with Waltman two months ago after complaints started coming in.
The businessman allegedly told police he wasn't trying to defraud anyone.

Bob Boyer said they are now looking for victims.
"We are asking people who have had any dealings with the E-Bay store in Wyoming to contact the Wyoming police and tell us about the problems they might have had.

Despite Waltman's claims he wasn't defrauding anyone, police say they warned him arrest warrants would be issued.
Eyewitness News obtained information that the Waltmans may be somewhere in the Southeast part of the country.