Online auctions represent a great opportunity to acquire vehicles and other objects at more attractive prices than on the second-hand market. Participating is easy and can be done from anywhere and on any mobile device. Although it can also fail, even in places where cybersecurity is a state issue.
A hacker infiltrated the auction page of the US government's General Services Administration and "bought" three cars for three dollars. He 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 GSA Auctions site, 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 Prosecutor's publication details that Coker - a resident of Oklahoma - participated in multiple auctions of vehicles and jewelry on the GSA Auctions website.
The bid for each lot was then directed to an electronic payment site (pay.gov) to pay the amount of their winning bid. However, instead of sending payment for the actual amount, Coker violated the system by falsifying the final value of each auction.
The hacker bid and won 19 items in different auctions, fraudulently paying only one dollar for each item.
In this way he obtained three vehicles: a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, for which he had bid $8,327; a Ford F550 truck, for which he offered $9,000; and a Chevrolet C4500, which he bought for $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 General Services Administration's Office of Inspector General, Coker pleaded guilty to wire fraud in U.S. District Court before Judge Michael J. Davis.
