EBay fraud is the tip of the internet crime iceberg, a top lawyer said after a Romanian couple were jailed for preying on bidders using the web site.

Nicolae Cretanu, 30, and his 23-year-old wife Adriana, of Cann Hall Road, Leytonstone, conned up to 3,000 people on the auction site into paying for non-existent goods including cars, antiques and concert tickets, making themselves more than £250,000.

Anthony Riem, partner at specialist City-based firm Philippsohn Crawfords Berwald, said business lost around £2.4 billion every year to cyber crime.

Posted: 11|4|05 at 4:17 pm. Filed under: Auction News.