I found the auction fraud story had been picked up by Asahi Shimbun’s website.
This really does seem to be one of the larger auction fraud cases on record.
A lesson: be careful with auction transactions going forward.
Items from online auction don’t arrive; fraud suspected; company operator missing — Hachioji
August 24, 2005, 12:13It has come to light that multiple buyers from an online auction listing by “K-Net Electric,” an electronics retailer based in Hachioji, Tokyo, failed to receive their purchased items. According to Yahoo Japan, the damage spans over 1,000 cases nationwide, amounting to tens of millions of yen. The company’s operator has gone missing, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police are investigating on suspicion of fraud.
According to the Hachioji Police, four victims including a male company employee in the area have filed reports stating they “placed winning bids on items like washing machines and DVD recorders, transferred the money, and never received the goods.”