Bad Boys

He admits Rolex scam on eBay!

Posted by connectingwatches on February 29, 2004 at 01:00 - IP: 81.51.231.73
Email : info@connectingwatches.com

By John Agar The Grand Rapids Press
Time to come clean: He admits Rolex scam on eBay!
Saturday, February 28, 2004

A Holland resident faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines after admitting he and a friend sold fake Rolex watches on eBay.

Daniel Lemmen said he was strapped for cash when he bought into a buddy's get-rich-quick scheme involving the popular Internet auction site.

It didn't pay.

On Friday, he was in front of U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell on felony fraud charges. Lemmen admitted that he and a co-defendant duped a South Carolina resident into paying $3,000 for a Rolex replica and pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud. He is to be sentenced in June.

Two others, David Rendleman, of Hamilton, and Craig Warden, of West Olive, await trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Murray said. Rendleman has filed notice of an insanity defense, records showed.

Lemmen said Rendleman approached him in late 2002 with the plan. He said Rendleman wanted him to set up an eBay account and use his name, address and bank account for transactions.

"Dave already had things on eBay," Lemmen told the judge. "He said in order to make money, we had to have it in my name. I was the registered seller."

He acknowledged they purposely misled potential buyers to believe they were buying a genuine Rolex watch. Lemmen did not elaborate, but the indictment said the sellers pitched one watch by saying it had belonged to his grandfather but didn't fit his wrist. Another eBay posting said: "(I'm) not a Rolex dealer, just an individual who buys authentic watches and sells them for a modest profit."

Lemmen, who has held the same job the past 10 years, said he decided to take part after his wife was in a car crash in late 2001, and they got behind on bills.

"We were financially strapped," he told the judge.

His attorney, Sharon Turek, said after the hearing, "He's accepted his role in this. He's doing all he can to correct his mistakes. He readily admitted as soon as he did it it was not a good thing to be involved with."

Authorities say the defendants collected $2,000 to $3,000 for watches worth only a few hundred dollars.

eBay brings Internet buyers and sellers together at www.ebay.com. The Web site offers safe-buying tips, and does not allow sales of replicas. It urges people to use common sense and encourages checks of buyers' and sellers' histories.

The allegations about the Rolexes are a reminder that scams are everywhere on the Internet. But that has not discouraged Sue Livingston, of Holland, from using eBay.

Livingston won't get rich selling on eBay, but she has covered the cost her Christmas presents the past few years.

Once, she believed a buyer paid too much. "I later sent her some of her money back because I felt bad," said Livingston, a retail manager.

"It's a wonderful place to find something you can't find anywhere else."

She had heard about the allegations of fake Rolexes, but they didn't concern her.

"I've had only one time where I paid for something that I didn't receive. Other than that, it's been great. I've bought a lot of stuff."

By John Agar The Grand Rapids Press