The eBay Motors online auction of a set of custom-painted race bodywork autographed by Paris Hilton and Jay Leno was scammed by a fraudulent winning bidder. The bodywork was being auctioned to benefit The Roadracing World Action Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to promote motorcycle racing safety, and in particular, to encourage and facilitate the use of soft barriers at motorcycle racing events. Since its formation in 2001, The Fund has raised over $800,000 and purchased and deployed soft barriers at road race and dirt track events across the United States. To get a better understanding or what soft barriers do and why they are so important, go to ~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd6UMGnIktE~ . The bodywork, specially painted to resemble the paint scheme of the Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team–which competes in the 125cc Grand Prix World Championship–was auctioned on eBay Motors from July 17-24. The auction was viewed over 11,400 times and received 41 bids. The highest bid of $5102.11, however, was apparently a hoax made by fraudulent bidder. All of the Roadracing World Action Fund’s attempts to contact the winning bidder were unsuccessful and pointed towards a hoax. For instance, the shipping address associated with the account was in New York but the phone number provided was in Alaska. The person who answered that phone call said they did not know the account holder’s name or anything about the auction. The incident was reported immediately to eBay Motors as an Unpaid Item, and Roadracingworld.com contacted eBay Motors’ media relations department to find out more about the incident and how to safeguard against future auction fraud. “Obviously, eBay handles a number of these high-profile celebrity charity auctions. We’re sorry to hear in this case the auction wasn’t completed,” eBay Motors spokesman Andy Kill told Roadracingworld.com. “The proper course is contacting the buyer or trying to contact them and waiting a few days or so. If nothing happens in that time, open [an Unpaid Item] case, and eBay Trust and Safety will review the transaction and take the appropriate action against the buyer’s account. If it’s a no-pay situation or an unpaid item, that will be recorded on their account. And a number of those records will lead to restrictions in buying and selling privileges. Those are the recommended ways of going about resolving cases.” In the case of the Roadracing World Action Fund auction, according to eBay Motors, it appears that someone set up a new account during the time of the auction and only bid on our item in an apparently intentional attempt to disrupt its natural outcome. Kill said there are several ways to safeguard against this, especially with items that may draw large bids. “As far as what you can do next time or what eBay recommends to ensure both the buyer and seller is happy on things like these is using Pre-Approved Bidding and an Auction Management Agency,” said Kill. “There’s also buyer requirement settings you can configure for how you would like to deal with potential bidders. For instance, you can set it so that anyone with a low feedback score needs to contact you, the seller, before bidding, which helps ensure someone with limited history is actually committed to purchasing the item.” The bodywork never left the possession of the the Roadracing World Action Fund, which is currently evaluating new plans to sell the bodywork autographed by Paris Hilton and Jay Leno.