Ticket swindler jailed

A conman who sold non-existent concert tickets on eBay and then tried to bribe his customers not to go to the police, has been jailed. Adam Cuthbertson's lawyer pointed to his guilty plea, and the fact that he had refunded all of his victims, as reasons to be lenient with the crook.

But Judge Charles Fox took a dim view of the deception between May and November 2005, telling him people like him could cause internet users to lose faith in sites like eBay. ... Spokesman for eBay Gareth Streeter said: "We worked with the South Wales Police on this case. As this case demonstrates, eBay is one of the worst places to sell illegally, due to the open and transparent nature of the listings and the traceability of the transactions which take place.

Cuthbertson had used a variety of different IDs on the site, re-registering with a new name each time eBay had banned him. When his victims complained, he refunded them and offered £50 compensation if they would drop their complaints.