Internet conman jailed after web hunt

3:30pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

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An Internet conman has been jailed after his victims launched an online manhunt in a bid to snare him.

Fantasist Adam Dovey, 26, offered cameras, laptops and even tickets to wrestling bouts for sale on internet auction website eBay then pocketed the money from duped customers.

The scheme was launched soon after he was freed early from a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence imposed in 2006 for a similar eBay scam.

Dovey, formerly of Trafalgar Road, Portslade, Brighton, was given a 15-month jail term for 22 counts of deception, netting a total of more than £6,500, when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court.

Furious victims of the latest round of cons launched an online manhunt to snare Dovey – after “Googling” his name and stumbling upon newspaper reports in The Argus of his earlier jail sentence.

On one website, called mirrorofjustice.com, one post read: “I’ve been contacted by other people that have been victims of this eBay seller and I am collating information to hopefully get some justice for I believe a large number of people.

“Adam C Dovey is known to have lived in Brighton in England and has conned a number of people into paying large amounts of money into his bank account.

“If you are a fellow victim or know where he is please contact me.”

But Dovey used a string of fake identities and addresses in a bid to cover his tracks, the court heard.

After serving ten months for 12 eBay deception offences committed in 2005, divorced father Dovey started on another trail of deception last year, even using his mother’s maiden name as a cover and stealing a flatmate’s passport to try and open a bank account.

The court heard that when his mother Suzanne Dovey found out about his con, she threw him out of her house in Brighton and he moved to Liverpool where he continued his scam.

He was arrested in April last year.

Judge Guy Antony said: “eBay is an institution with which many people in this country find very useful as it lets them dispose of unwanted items or buy things they want.

“Its success depends on the honesty of the person who is selling or pretending to sell items.”

Dovey was jailed for 14 months for deception and theft and one month for failing to surrender.

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