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Jill Atwood reportingA Salt Lake man is in jail this afternoon, arrested for baiting customers of Ebay with offers that were too good to be true.
Russell Smith ran his on line auction business out of a small office and warehouse in South Salt Lake. It was known to on-line shoppers as Liquidation Universe.
Complaints are still coming in to the cyber crime task force. At least 6-thousand victims and millions of dollars in losses. Today Smith was in federal court on one charge, but more should soon follow.
You see them all the time on Ebay, a screaming deal you just can't afford not to bid on. And that's exactly what accused con man Russell Smith, a.k.a. John Leary, was counting on.
Darin Sweeten/South Salt Lake Police: "WE'VE BEEN GETTING CALLS DAILY FOR THIS AND WE'RE INTO THE THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS NATIONWIDE."
Operating out of this South Salt Lake Warehouse, Smith put thousands of big brand named computers up for auction on Ebay, cybercrime detectives say his business was booming.
Darin Sweeten/South Salt Lake Police: "AT FIRST LIQUIDATION UNIVERSE MADE GOOD ON THE DEALS..THEY SENT OUT COMPUTERS TO THE HIGHEST BIDDERS..BUT AFTER A WHILE THEY JUST STARTED COLLECTING THE MONEY ORDERS BUT NOT MAILING OUT THE MERCHANDISE AND WHEN PEOPLE STARTED TO CATCH ON..THEY CLEARED OUT."
Ebay warnings went out, and the police investigation kicked into high gear.
Early Sunday morning, Smith was finally picked up by the FBI. He's expected to face fraud and theft charges in the coming days.
Most of the victims are from out of state, but there are some local victims. South Salt Lake Police department will take your call if you feel you've been victimized.
Smith has a lengthy record and they suspect he has done this type of thing before.
