Once upon a time we worked at an office where a certain loud individual would sit around bidding on her own stuff on eBay in a sad attempt to drive prices up on her collection of bedazzled jeans. We know this because she not only bid on her own stuff, she asked other people in the office to “fake bid” on her tacky crap.

Now a Manhattan jeweler has been caught systematically inflating bids on its own items, and has agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement. The jeweler’s employees got in fake bidding wars using aliases with the intent to inflate prices. It worked, the fake bidding wars increased prices by about 20%. NY state officials say that 232,000 fake bids were made over the course of a year.

According to WNBC, the company EMH Group LLC did business under the name Jewelry By Ezra, and operated its own site: http://www.auctionriot.com. All signs indicate that consumers should stay as far away from this company as possible!—MEGHANN MARCO

NYC Jeweler Accused Of Manipulating eBay Auctions [WNBC via Gothamist] (Thanks, Cheryl!)

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.