Lake Mary Woman Convicted Of Mail Fraud Involving Scheme To Defraud eBay And PayPal

Orlando, Florida – Jolanta Kucharski (54, Lake Mary) has pleaded guilty to mail fraud. She faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, Kucharski assisted her son, Brian Kucharski, in obtaining from publicly available websites personal identifying information of unsuspecting individuals, including their names and birthdates, and using that information to create fake eBay selling accounts. Brian Kucharski then used those accounts to negotiate the fraudulent sale of products, predominantly gift cards, through eBay, Inc. Unsuspecting eBay customers paid for ordered items through fraudulent PayPal accounts that Jolanta and Brian Kucharski had created. Brian Kucharski used the fraudulently obtained proceeds of the illegal activities to purchase precious metals, which were delivered to the Kucharskis through the U.S. mail.

Meanwhile, instead of mailing the purchased items to the eBay customers, Jolanta and Brian Kucharski also used the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to disguise their fraudulent activities, by mailing random items to other individuals and using the USPS tracking numbers for those items to represent to eBay customers, and eBay, that they had mailed the purchased eBay items. The customers never received their items, and their demands for refunds were routinely denied.

The scheme was uncovered when postal customers all over the United States received priority mail packages containing random items of no value and contacted their local police departments and post offices. U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigators then identified Brian and Jolanta Kucharski as the perpetrators of the eBay scheme.

On November 6, 2018, Brian Kucharski pleaded guilty to mail fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, 2019. 

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ilianys Rivera Miranda.