Online auctions represent a great opportunity to acquire cars and other objects at more attractive prices than on the second-hand market.
Participate is easy and can be done from anywhere and mobile device. Although it can also fail, even in places where cybersecurity is a state issue.
A hacker breached the US government’s General Services Administration auction page and “bought” three cars for three dollars. She also took jewelry; each for one dollar.
The incident, which recently emerged, occurred in 2019 when Evan James Coker, 41, participated in a plan to commit fraud on the site. GSA Auctions, according to the statement from the Minnesota District Attorney’s office
The General Services Administration (GSA) conducts online auctions for all types of items, including surplus, seized and forfeited assets, as well as equipment that government agencies no longer need.
Auctions are held online through servers located in the city of Eagan, Minnesota.
The investigation
The Prosecutor’s publication details that Coker – a resident of Oklahoma – participated in multiple auctions of vehicles and jewelry on the GSA Auctions website.
After winning the bid for each lot he was directed to an electronic payment site (pay.gov) to pay the amount of your winning bid. However, instead of sending payment for the actual amount, Coker violated the system falsifying the final value of each auction.
The hacker bid and won 19 items in different auctions, fraudulently paying only US$ 1 per item.
Coker should have paid US$22,700 for this Chevrolet C4500. However, he paid US$1. Photo Truck Country. In this way he obtained three vehicles: a Ford Escape Hybrid 2010for which he had bid $8,327; a truck Ford F550for which he offered $9,000; and one Chevrolet C4500which he bought from $22,700.
According to this information, the hacked site was actually not GSA Auctions but pay.gov, which acts as an official payment platform for government transactions, informing only the customer (GSA Auctions) if a transaction is completed successfully or not, without detail the real value of that transaction.
Following an investigation by the FBI and the Office of Inspector General of the General Services Administration, Coker pleaded guilty of wire fraud in U.S. District Court before Judge Michael J. Davis.