Summit Man Posed as His Dead Dad, Others in eBay Scam, US Attorney Says

A Summit resident surrendered Thursday for his alleged role in a scheme that defrauded hundreds of sellers of foreign and antique banknotes on eBay over the course of five years, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

According to a complaint, David D'Aries, 49, devised a scheme in which he posed as a buyer on the Internet auction site interested in purchasing rare and antique foreign banknotes available for bid.

As the winning bidder, D'Aries would pay for the auctioned items via PayPal or credit card but later claim to various credit card companies that the item was never received or that the charges were unauthorized, the complaint said.

D'Aries, posing as one of three different people, including his deceased father, was the winning bidder in approximately 400 fraudulent transactions from June 2007 through October 2012, according to the complaint.

Losses to eBay, PayPal and the various eBay sellers total approximately $122,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office found.

A search of D'Aries' home on June 30, 2011 revealed several thousand foreign banknotes and 165 pieces of mail from around the world that were addressed to D'Aries and his other identies, the complaint alleges.

D'Aries is charged with one count of mail fraud and was expected to make an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark federal court.

If convicted, D’Aries faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.