Story on Bricklink you guys should know about...

[MaxiVisVires]

http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=117857

This guy is a popular seller on both eBay and Bricklink and goes by the name "Swanberg". Just a head's up

[Blueandwhite]

This utterly sickens me. Thank goodness I never bought anything through him. Like every good consumer, I hate Walmart, but theft is something I could never tolerate. Its a shame really. To rip off a store, and then sell your goods off online is just nasty.

Later.

[lil Jon]

That is interesting. Sounds like a modern day Robin Hood.

Just kidding, some people are really clever and just have to use it for evil...

[HenrytheV]

That scared me so bad, I had to look through everything I just bought off Ebay to make sure I hadn't bought anything from him.

[ottoatm]

"Hopefully, we kept him from spoiling some kid's Christmas," Dolyniuk said.

This is the line in the story that hit home the most to me... amazing what people will resort to just to make a buck - you'd think he'd know better. Sheesh.

[Bruce N H]

Hey,

Here's another news story. I looked through my feedback records, and last January I bought from his (now closed) store Bartering the Brick. Makes me feel tainted.

I am a little concerned. If he was involved in massive (>$150000!!!) fraud over five states (according to the article) (and, I note, his store says he's in Arizona and the arrest was in Oregon), and this also involved the movement of this volume of stolen goods through the mail over state (and, presumably, international) borders, this becomes a huge federal case. Is there any danger that somehow legal liability will fall back on Bricklink? Troy, or any of our other BL store owners, do you know if Bricklink is sufficiently insulated from the illegal actions of an individual store owner? In my worst case scenario, federal prosecutors could shut down Bricklink and demand an audit of all the members. I reallize that this is probably premature panic-mongering. I'm sure Ebay has already laid the legal groundwork for exactly this situation, as I'm sure criminals have probably used Ebay to move stolen property.

BTW, looking though my feedbacks, I notice I have the exact same stock response from Troy four times over the past few years. I'm sad, Troy, I thought you lovingly crafted each individual feedback response.

Bruce

[MaxiVisVires]

In my worst case scenario, federal prosecutors could shut down Bricklink and demand an audit of all the members.

Though authorities can do this, I highly doubt they will. The amount of money and man hours would take would prove redundant. This guy was a member of eBay for 4+ years. Tracking down every single person wouldn't prove to be viable. The great thing about Brick Link is that it kept track of his sales, and his inventory, and I'm sure with eBay it can dig up some sales as well. Now, in most states, buying stolen goods is illegal, and now that we know about it, you should report it. But due to the volume, I only suggest calling Oregon detectives for sales of 100.00 or more. Internet law on the other hand, is a fickle thing. Not sure if over the internet liability falls on the consumer, since most of the products that exchange hands are untrackable.

[Bruce N H]

Let's just say, for instance (and I'm not making any admissions here), that I made a purchase of $12 from his store in the past few months for a few viking accessories and 1x1 tooth plates. lf, in my hypothetical, that were the case, do I have any liability or responsibility for the possible receipt of stolen goods through the mail, even if I purchased this in good faith? Should I, if this were the case, report such activity?
Further, if I also (and again, no admissions) made a purchase about a year ago from the same store, but since "My Bricklink" doesn't show records past some number of months I would not know exactly what it was, but given my past history, I'm sure it wasn't for more than, say, $30, again, would I have liability or responsibility?
As you say, I rather doubt it, but it makes me feel bad to have potentially been involved in an illegal operation.

Bruce

[SavaTheAggie]

I am not a lawyer.

What I am about to say is not the statement of an expert, but rather what I vaguely remember from my study of business law in college.

If you have stolen property, even if you purchased it in good faith that it was legally obtained, you are responsible to return the merchandise (or have it recovered from your possession).

If you have pieces of stolen property, and that property can be with 100% certainty traced back to the original whole piece of stolen property, you are responsible to return the merchandise (or have it recovered from your possession).

If you have pieces of stolen property, and that property cannot be traced back to the original whole piece of stolen property, you are not responsible for returning the merchandise.

Many car parts are labeled/numbered/tagged, and can be traced back to the original stolen car.

No LEGO piece is individually numbered or tagged, and thus cannot be traced back to any one, specific package.

Now if 100% of the inventory of Swanberg's shop was stolen (or illegally purchased), then it is possible to trace that inventory to the purchaser and have it returned. If not all of his inventory was stolen, then it becomes much harder to trace. But even if 100% was stolen, do you know which parts you obtained from him?

Basically what I'm trying to say is that from my vague and inexperienced understanding of the law, I don't think any of us should be particularly worried about our BL purchases. Not only can noone trace which parts are from what sets, but unless you bought items you don't otherwise have in your collection, you cannot trace which parts you received (or at least it'd be hard).

I am thinking because the items in his shop that were in fact stolen can never be reassembled and re-sold as new, he will simply be held financially responsible for the value of those sets.

But I'm sure someone will correct me.

--Anthony

[The Hordesman]

I dont know anything about what any "law" thinks is right or wrong, and dont care either, however, my moral compass knows:

Thats bad business.
Not my cup of tea.

[Blueandwhite]

"My Bricklink" doesn't show records past some number of months I would not know exactly what it was, but given my past history, I'm sure it wasn't for more than, say, $30, again, would I have liability or responsibility?
As you say, I rather doubt it, but it makes me feel bad to have potentially been involved in an illegal operation.

Bruce

Liable for $30 of goods? Who would bring a civil action against anybody for such a small amount?

And as others have pointed out, your purchase was in good faith. I don't think you should feel bad about being involved in an illegal activity through no fault of your own. If anything, you are potentially a victim, not an accomplice. More to the point, its likely that your state has some form of consumer protection legislation that would prevent Walmart or Target from coming after you and your $30.


Later.

[SavaTheAggie]

Please click the following link; it contains important info for those who ordered from Swanberg, shop owner of Bartering the Brick.

http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=118001

--Anthony

[Bruce N H]

Cool. Good to know that this won't go beyond Swanberg. Thanks for posting the link.

Bruce

[Jacob C.]

Wow!
That was totally unexpected.
The word lego and the word criminal just don't belong in the same sentence.

Now every time I buy from bricklink or ebay...I'll always wonder where those sets actually came from...hmm?

[Dunechaser]

Wow!
The word lego and the word criminal just don't belong in the same sentence.

Well, a LEGO employee in Enfield, Connecticut was charged a while back with stealing high-value sets (like the AT-AT) and handing them off to someone to sell on eBay. Unfortunately, any combination of those keywords (LEGO, AT-AT, Enfield, eBay, and even theft/thieves/steal/stole) returns far too many results, so I can't provide a link to the story. I bet Bruce knows exactly where to find it, though!