Sep 28, 2020 12:16:00

Former employee charged with sending cockroach and bloody pig masks to eBay executives says

by

Danilo Urbina

In June 2020, six eBay executives who run an internet auction site were arrested and charged with threatening journalists by sending bloody pig Halloween masks, cockroaches, and funeral garlands. A former eBay employee arrested and prosecuted in this case talks about 'why criminal activity has started to take place internally.'

Inside eBay's Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal --The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/26/technology/ebay-cockroaches-stalking-scandal.html

EBay sent cockroaches, porn and a bloody pig mask to bloggers --CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/27/tech/ebay-cockroach-pig-mask/

You can read more about the three-part threats made by eBay executives in the article below.

Six eBay executives arrested on suspicion of sending 'bloody pig masks' to journalists-GIGAZINE

by Kazuhisa OTSUBO

A series of threats were charged by James Bow, 45, senior director of safety and security on eBay, David Harville, 48, director of global resiliency, and global intelligence. Stephanie Pop (32 years old), Senior Manager of the Division, Stephanie Stockwell (26 years old), Manager of the Global Intelligence Center Division (GIC), Veronica Gia (26 years old), Intelligence Analyst of GIC , Brian Gilbird, 51, who was a senior manager in the special operations department of the Global Security Team.

The victims were Aina Steiner and David Steiner, journalists based in Natick, Massachusetts, who published an online newsletter for e-commerce companies. The two published a critical article on eBay.

The New York Times published an interview with one of the indicted, Veronica Gia, on September 26, 2020. Gia studied criminology at university and has been working as a contract employee on eBay since the age of 23. Mr. Gia worked hard and was soon promoted to an intelligence analyst and was assigned to work on security.

The woman in the photo is Mr. Gia.

This security team is a team composed of former police officers and former security consultants, and although they were strict, the members were intimate with each other. The indicted James Bow and Stephanie Pop were Gia's bosses.

However, it is believed that harassment was rampant inside the team, with Mr. Bau stabbing the chair with a knife as a 'warning to the coward' and scolding his subordinates for 'not smiling in front of the officer'. , It seems that the turnover rate was very high. However, in the security department, which believes in 'royalties,' Gia continued to work as he changed from a contract employee to a full-time employee.

And in the summer of 2019, Gia did what her boss's boss's boss, the CEO, wanted.

According to prosecutors, Bau's plan was originally 'an article that wins Steiner's trust and favors eBay by providing help to secretly harass Steiner and stop harassment. Let me write. ' To that end, Gia and Bau and others carry out harassment, which consists of three parts: 'sending bloody pig masks and cockroaches,' 'threatening online,' and 'stalking victims' homes.' In fact, the two traveled in first class to Boston, where Steiner lives, and even rented a car to Steiner's house to install GPS in the car. However, because the car's garage was locked, GPS installation was not possible.

In addition, security team members sent emails stating that 'harassment of journalists was found,' attempting to hide the facts, deleting information on smartphones, and eBay's internal investigation team. It has also been reported to have interfered with. However, he made several mistakes, including the car license plate being tracked by other eBay employees, and was eventually arrested for six people allegedly involved in the case.

On the other hand, six employees and executives, including Mr. Gia, have been indicted in this case, not including former CEO Devin Venig and former executive Steve Weimer. Although they denied involvement in the threat, they left eBay in September 2019 after the threatening incident became news, and Mr. Venig was $ 57 million when he retired. I have received a retirement allowance.

However, it is clear that the two hated the threatened journalist Steiner, and after Steiner's article was posted, Weimer told Venig with a link to the article, 'We are this woman. I will squeeze it. '

The security team was told to take a vacation, and Mr. Gia left eBay and re-employed at another company, but was fired when the case became public. 'It's easy to ask,'Why didn't you leave eBay?' But then I was scared and stuck. I'm really sorry. Even in a small role. I regret what I did. If I could go back to that moment and protect Steiner from such an experience, I would do it immediately, 'said Gia.