Online vigilantes tackle eBay cheats

DISGRUNTLED customers of online auction site eBay have formed their own vigilante group to beat internet con-artists.

As the popularity of eBay has grown - it now has more than 42m users worldwide and as many as 10m items for auction at any one time - so has the number of scammers posting fake bids to con customers.

The most common fraud is for sellers to set up a second eBay account to bid up the price of their own items by sending in fictitious offers.

In another, dishonest purchasers insist on rapid despatch of goods so they can cancel their electronic payments within 48 hours.

Now angry customers have begun bidding high prices for items they suspect may never have existed in an attempt to spoil criminal activities.

But the site's owners fear the mood of vigilantism could run out of control. Bosses at eBay say they already employ 800 staff to tackle online fraud. Rob Chesnut, an eBay executive, said: 'We love it that people want to help, but there's a right way to do it.'