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World's biggest eBay scammers to be sentenced for golf club fraud
1 Mar 2010Seven members of a gang behind a multi-million pound fake golf club scam believed to be the largest such conspiracy ever to be uncovered on eBay face jail today.
The counterfeiting operation was the biggest of its kind to be investigated by a council trading standards team and was prompted by a pensioner's complaint, Havering Council said.
Gary Bellchambers and six others sold millions of pounds worth of fake golf clubs and other merchandise through the online auction site between June 2003 and March 2008.
All seven will be sentenced today at London's Snaresbrook Crown Court after officers identified more than 96,000 transactions of clubs and other equipment.
Bellchambers, 45, of Rainham, was at the heart of the conspiracy, and pleaded guilty to his role, along with Keith Thomas, 49, from Rainham, and Chris Moughton, 56, from Blackpool, Havering Council said.
Bellchambers also admitted the unauthorised use of trademarks, which related to counterfeit Qantas complimentary lounge cards and Sony memory sticks.
Four others were found guilty in December last year of conspiring together to sell or distribute counterfeit golf clubs, clothing and accessories.
They were: Roy Cottee, 65, and his 43-year-old wife Kay, of Rainham, Essex; Helen Wilson, 28, of Hertford, and Sharron Williams, 48, of West Wickham, Kent.
Most of the fake goods were manufactured at factories in Shenzhen, China and shipped to the various defendants' addresses in the UK.
All the convicted defendants except Wilson travelled to Thailand.
From Thailand, or their homes in the UK, they arranged for the fake goods to be sent to eBay customers in Ireland, Australia, the US, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Brazil and New Zealand.
The downfall of the operation was brought about when pensioner Christine Manz complained to trading standards officers after she had tried to get a refund for two clubs.
The conspirators usually gave unhappy customers refunds to avoid attracting attention from the authorities.
But her letters to Bellchambers, who was in Thailand at the time, went unanswered.
The council then launched an investigation, codenamed Operation Augusta, named after the US golf club which hosts the Masters.
The investigation showed that some fake golf balls sold to customers exploded when struck with a club, and emails from some of the defendants recorded a complaint from a customer who found a tropical spider's nest in the cavity of a club.
Bellchambers and the Cottees sold counterfeit Qantas airport lounge passes which gave entry to business class lounges at airports across the world.
Bellchambers and other convicted defendants sold the counterfeit clubs through a vast number of accounts on eBay.
The number of people involved in the conspiracy grew as the gang leaders recruited individuals who were prepared either to allow their existing eBay accounts to be used or allow their names and addresses to be used upon registration of additional accounts.
The council investigators discovered that considerable sums of money were passing through the bank accounts of Bellchambers.
During a 28-day period in November 2006, £73,000 was transferred between accounts.
Auction site eBay said that the case was supported by its fraud investigation team and reinforced its ongoing commitment to fighting counterfeits.
Mark Lewis, country manager for eBay in the UK, said: "Trust is at the heart of everything we do and so when, on occasion, that trust is abused by the small minority, we work tirelessly to ensure they do not get away with it."
Bill Adams, the council's principal trading standards officer, said: "In my 35 years as an investigator I've never before heard of such a massive counterfeiting operation - it was of a scale that has never been seen before.
"The gang made millions of pounds from their operation, selling to people all over the world.
"This conspiracy was like a huge spider's web which we had to unravel."
Both Cottees were also found guilty of conspiracy to sell or distribute Qantas Cards bearing signs likely to be mistaken for registered trade marks.
Reader views (2)
E-bay the world biggest jumble sale?
- Jim, London, 01/03/2010 11:48
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Ebay has turned into a joke. Scavangers and scammers trying to use it making a quick buck selling dodgy goods.
Or even more stupidly, people thinking that they can inflate profits by bumping up the postal charges and the like.
I think it's about time somebody did an expose on Ebay and its Paypal adjunct.
- Charles, Kennington, 01/03/2010 09:47
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