Cunning Cons

Online buyers and sellers beware—sophisticated con artists could be watching your every move. Blakely found that out the hard way. She says she had always dreamed of getting married in a Monique Lhuillier wedding gown, but the $6,000 price tag was out of her budget. So Blakely did what a lot of cost-conscious brides do these days—she checked on eBay, and there she found her dream dress. She started bidding—all the way up to $2,400.

When the auction ended, Blakely realized she had failed to meet the minimum sale price and lost the dress. But later that day she got an e-mail from someone offering to sell her the dress at the price she had bid. "I was just ecstatic. I just couldn't believe it. I just wanted to get the dress in my hands. It was a dream come true," Blakely says. Although Blakely had a PayPal account, the person who contacted her claimed his own account had been hacked, so he asked Blakely to wire him the money instead.