U.S. Secret Service busts $5.7 million Cisco scam on eBay
Published December 11th, 2007
California’s Orange County Register is reporting that the U.S. Secret Service has busted a $5.7 million scam on eBay selling illegally obtained Cisco replacement parts.
Placentia, California resident - Thong Quoc Tran - has been arrested by U.S. Secret Service agents for allegedly filing more than 1,000 phony warranty claims on Cisco routers.
According to an affidavit by Special Agent Steven Kulpaca, Tran would obtain the serial numbers of routers legally purchased from Cisco by companies around the country.
Tran would then buy warranties on those routers, claim they were broken, and resell the replacement parts sent by Cisco at a discount on eBay.
The affidavit says Tran received $5.7 million in Cisco replacement parts over three years.
Tran was charged with mail fraud, Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said Friday, December 7th.
The Secret Service, which investigates cases of mail fraud, began surveillance in April of Tran, 30, who has homes in Placentia and in Westminster, California.
The agency conducted a search of his primary residence in the 400 block of North Little Drive in Placentia, California last week.
Wayne Williams, deputy special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Los Angeles office, said that, for one-target fraud cases, this is “one of the larger Orange County cases in its history.”
Williams said only Cisco appeared to be targeted by Tran.
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