I noticed someone on EBay a while back who had a motorhome listed for auction. He listed a bunch of info, including a business name and address. I also noticed a different person on EBay was bidding on some Vette parts (I check a lot of Vette parts on EBay), his username was the same name as the place of business of the motorhome guy. I thought maybe it was one person with two user IDs. I went to the page with the motorhome listed, clicked on "bidders" and sure enough the guy bidding on the Vette parts was also bidding on the motorhome...his own motorhome. Maybe I should have minded my own business, but I e-mailed EBay, they checked into it and banned the guy for 6 months. He has since been reinstated, but his second user ID has not. Punishment enough?

 

Given the very low number of auctions that both the high and second bidder have won, there is definately something amiss!
:eek:

 

It would not be necessary to have more than one computer. It's not difficult to access more than one IP address from one computer. The lister could start the auction with one name, bid with a second name and counterbid with a third. The odds of being noticed are minimal, particularly in the vitual world of eBay.

When detected and reported, eBay does take action (as 3Mar67 posted earlier) but those detected are rare and those reported, even more rare. Think of how many auctions have a bids run up by someone who ultimately don't 'win' (I don't like that terminology but that's what eBay uses). Most of them are legitimate, I'm sure, but a certain percentage are either listers bidding on their own items or having friends do the bidding for them.


[Modified by Mac, 9:29 AM 9/6/2002]

 

Hmmmmm...I am not sure what you mean by "access more than one IP address".

You could mean accessing any address on the internet which is, of course, how the internet works. On the other hand, if you are trying to say that you can instruct your computer to assume another IP address, then I believe you are incorrect. Your IP address is your mailbox; the ability to change it whimsically would create chaos on the internet.

When you make a bid on ebay, there are only two IP addresses involved: Your PC's IP address, and the IP address of the ebay server that is hosting the auction. So, if your IP address also set up the auction, then ebay's server SHOULD immediately know that you are either the same guy, or else you have Multiple Personality Disorder. Apparently, from 3Mar67's post above, ebay's system does not cross reference the IP address of the seller and the bidders, only usernames, OR...the guy had two computers, say a desk top and a lap top.

I could be wrong but I believe the IP address is set by the hardware installed in your PC (ethernet card, modem card, etc). It is therefore not easily changed in a few seconds. How else could the Feds find these cyber criminals so quickly?


[Modified by Chuck Sangerhausen, 12:53 PM 9/6/2002]


[Modified by Chuck Sangerhausen, 1:09 PM 9/6/2002]

 

Back then, when I had two separate providers, ATT & Comcast, I was logging on as Patrick Tighe, when I wanted to post pictures here. I could not post pictures as FXT. Using the handle FXT has eliminated the hassles associated with posting your real name on the Internet. These days you don't have hardly any privacy as it is. :D

 

The IP address is not hardwired onto your computer, it is assigned by the service provider.

If the IP was hardwired, life would be much, much easier for investigators to trace back to bad guys. How many convictions have you ever heard of for those destructive people who 'create' computer viruses? Nil. Hackers are occasionally caught by tracing through the internet IP addresses they use but not often; mostly the inexperienced ones or the stupider ones.

I'm far from expert on these things, but I know enough to say it is possible to access the internet from multiple IP addresses from a single computer; I have a general idea of the methodology used to create this effect. I'm sure someone who works in IT (like 67Heaven) would describe the process better than I could.

 

Hell, for a moderate fee (like a new ZZ-572) I'll show you guys how to hack into the Pentagon as the Pope. :jester

 

This site offers an interesting insight into YOUR computer's possible vulnerability on the Internet.
http://www.anonymizer.com/snoop/test_ip.shtml

After completing each page, scroll down and click on the yellow GO.

On the first page (and if you're using a hardware firewall - FXT, others?), the IP address that shows up will not be the same as the IP address you get by RUN, WINIPCFG (WIN95/98/ME) or IPCONFIG (WINNT, WIN2000, WINXP). That's because the router (hardware firewall) is masking your computer's IP address to protect you from hackers (not viruses).

Go through the various pages of the test site.......bet you'll be interested in what you see. :p:


[Modified by 67HEAVEN, 9:23 PM 9/6/2002]

 

As an investigator, the last thing I want to do is leave my IP address behind on the Net, especially if I'm after a hacker who will know how to access this info and use it, so we use the hacker's tricks against them. The Net is a scary place if you open the wrong doors.

 

You leave your IP address at every website you visit for any webmaster that's curious.