Feds charge six eBay employees with cyberststalking couple

[TheCowsCameHome]

Pretty creepy stuff. I can't imagine what they could have written that made a giant like eBay feel so threatened.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/15/metro/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-federal-cyberstalking-case-targeting-natick-couple/#comment-106409040

[uponit7771]

1. Yeah, this is huge ... 6 people didn't decide to go to jail for ebay on their own. This lets us ...

... know security folk that work at big corps like this are no more back ground checked then a lot of cops.

This is going to change some stuff in corp op sec world or should.

[WhiteTara]

2. Could you add a bit from the article

it's behind a paywall.
Thanks

[miyazaki]

3. A local "Patch" link about the story:

https://patch.com/massachusetts/natick/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-harassing-natick-couple

[WhiteTara]

4. Thanks!

That's really a horror story.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Kick

[nitpicker]

6. From the DoJ PR

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-aggressive-cyberstalking-campaign-targeting-natick

(snip)
The third phase of the campaign allegedly involved covertly surveilling the victims in their home and community. According to the complaint, Harville and Zea registered for a software development conference to explain their trip to Boston on Aug. 15, 2019. Baugh, Harville, and Zea (and later Popp) allegedly drove to the victims’ home in Natick several times, with Harville and Baugh intending at one point to break into the victims’ garage and install a GPS tracking device on their car. As protection in the event they were stopped by local police, Baugh and Harville allegedly carried false documents purporting to show that they were investigating the victims as “Persons of Interest” who had threatened eBay executives. The victims spotted the surveillance, however, and notified the Natick police, who began to investigate. The police learned that Zea had rented one of the cars used by the defendants and reached out to eBay for assistance.

Aware that the police were investigating, the defendants allegedly sought to interfere with the investigation by lying to the police about eBay’s involvement while pretending to offer the company’s assistance with the harassment, as well as by lying to eBay’s lawyers about their involvement. At one point, for example, Baugh, Gilbert, Popp, and Stockwell allegedly plotted to fabricate another eBay “Person of Interest” document that could be offered to the police as a lead on some of the harassing deliveries. As the police and eBay’s lawyers continued to investigate, the defendants allegedly deleted digital evidence that showed their involvement, further obstructing what had by then become a federal investigation.
(snip)

((I think that's why they're FORMER eBay people...))

[uponit7771]

7. They broke into thier house ?!?! Damn, they did all this for ebay without eBay knowledge?!?!?

[mercuryblues]

8. It seems that way

The workers were identified as: Jim Baugh, senior director of safety and security; David Harville, director of global resiliency; Stephanie Popp, a senior manager of global intelligence; Stephanie Stockwell, a intelligence analyst; Veronica Zea, a contractor; and Brian Gilbert, senior manager of special operations.

https://patch.com/massachusetts/natick/six-former-ebay-employees-charged-harassing-natick-couple

4 of them were in senior management.

[JHB]

12. From the article it's unclear if they actually broke in...

"...intending at one point to break into the victims’ garage and install a GPS tracking device on their car."

Unless there's more on this elsewhere, I would guess that this part came out during discovery phase as part of the documents obtained. It may be that they prepped for it, cased the place, but never found the right time when "the coast was clear" for a break-in.


On edit: No house break-in, and were unsuccessful breaking into the car because it was locked. From the link in the OP:

On Aug. 15, surveillance of the couple intensified. That night around 11:30 p.m., Baugh and Harville “approached the victims’ home, planning to install a GPS device on the couple’s car, prosecutors said. They couldn’t because the car was locked.

[dalton99a]

9. The terror campaign was ordered by eBay CEO:

Former eBay CEO Devin Wenig also left the company that month. While he isn’t named in the criminal complaint, eBay confirmed that he is “Executive 1,” who allegedly gave the initial order to “take her down” (which was then relayed to Baugh by “Executive 2”).'

https://www.wired.com/story/ebay-employees-charged-cyberstalking-harassment-campaign/

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Wow. Talk about ordering a campaign of terror.

[dalton99a]

13. There should be a big civil lawsuit against eBay Inc. as well

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. I see a big Buy-It-Now in their future.

n/t

[Ms. Toad]

15. It wasn't just a bad review.

It charges six former eBay employees and contractors, including Baugh, with a cyberstalking campaign against the publishers of an ecommerce news site that covered the company. The objective: Get the publishers—a married couple living in Natick, Massachusetts—to stop writing negative stories about eBay, and figure out the identity of one particularly vociferous commenter. Their alleged methods were outrageous, as were their attempts to cover it up.

Still not justified, but a bit more understandable since they were not just a cranky customer, they apparently had a platform that might make a bigger difference than a single voice.

ETA: Here's the newsletter - https://www.ecommercebytes.com/