According to PayPal spokesman Vince Sollitto, PayPal became suspicious of Fountain Valley, Calif.-based Gametek in October when customers began to complain about not receiving their products. After conducting its own in-house investigation, PayPal alerted the Palo Alto, Calif., Police Department in early November, Sollitto said. The U.S. Postal Service served a warrant on the unidentified owner of Gametek two weeks ago, Sgt. Jim Perry of the Fountain Valley Police Department said. Perry said Gametek accepted between 2,500 and 3,000 orders.
Police have yet to make an arrest in that case.
A shortage of computer chips has resulted in fewer consoles, according to Sony. As Christmas nears, the demand for the scarce console has heated up, and some game enthusiasts and parents hoping to snag a console for their children have gone to rummaging the Internet's version of back-alley operations. Inc. All rights reserved.