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preferred platform [Music] in 1999 married couple AER and David Steiner launched auction B A KN
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newsletter catering to those whose business was selling items online the idea originated from the
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Steiner shared interest in collecting and trading Ina had a massed a large collection of books and ever since
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childhood her husband David had been a frequenter of yard sales always on the lookout for
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antiques the Steiners prided themselves on factually reporting the latest industry news and keeping readers up to
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dat and informed on the inner workings of various online marketplaces Ina did most of the writing
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while David focused on the publication side of things although their newsletter began
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in the early days of Internet Commerce it filled a niche and grew in popularity has online trading became an important
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tool for businesses worldwide the Steiners eventually changed their Publications name to
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e-commerce bites and by 2019 it was a valued and reputable resource for sellers on a number of online platforms
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including Craigslist Etsy Amazon and eBay from her home in the town of natic Massachusetts AA published a daily
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article TOS such as what is behind Amazon Prime shipping delays and Craigslist finally launches a mobile app
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worth the wait inor also managed the e-commerce by its social media accounts which allowed
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her to directly engage with her small but passionate community on Thursday August 1 2019 the
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New York Times published an article detailing a lawsuit that us multinational e-com Comm Merce company
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eBay had recently filed against their direct competitor Amazon eBay was accusing Amazon of
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unlawfully poaching their sellers AA Steiner wrote about the dispute later that day in a post
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headlined eBay lawsuit meant to curbs seller Exodus to Amazon in it she asserted eBay's CEO Devin wenck has been
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unable to stop a decline in market sales but trying to dissuade Sellers from turning to Amazon and trying to get
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Amazon to stop recruiting sellers may not be the best tactic days later on Wednesday August 7
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the e-commerce BS Twitter account received a private message from a user AA didn't
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recognize their username was Tui Alay and their profile picture was an image of a skull surrounded by Darkness
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they asked what aa's problem was with eBay based on their Twitter bio it appeared TOA was an eBay seller based in
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Samoa who was new to Twitter with no Post history and no followers AA suspected they were a troll
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an online provocator who typically posted offensive content behind nameless accounts to arouse an emotional response
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in others the best way to deal deal with the troll was not to respond to them at
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all so inor ignored Tu LA's message this only fueled their anger they sent Ina a stream of messages that
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read hello what the [ __ ] are you there I'm waiting I don't like waiting what the [ __ ] what's it going to take for you
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to answer me I guess I'm going to have to get your attention another way [Music]
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[Music] [ __ ] AA continued to ignore Tu la adhering to the old internet adage don't
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feed the trolls by refusing to reply AA hoped TOA would grow bored and move on but they
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didn't they continued to message AA their tone growing increasingly hostile you don't have the Bulls to talk
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to me stop hiding behind your computer screen you [ __ ] [ __ ] still I I wouldn't engage
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then late the following night of Thursday August 8th over the course of 1 hour aa's email inbox was flooded with
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more than 50 email and newsletter subscriptions that she had not signed up for some were from ideological groups
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she had no interest in like the Communist Party The Satanic Temple and Scientology others featured
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disconcerting content relating to bondage cadavers and animal abuse 2 Days Later Ana's husband David
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received a bizarre and somewhat chilling email it reported that a preserved fetal
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pig had been ordered online and was being sent to the Steiner's home at around 400 p.m. a package
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arrived from Amazon that was addressed to Winer it contained a Halloween mask depicting a bloody pig face similar to
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one worn by the jigsaw killer and his ACC IES in the horror film franchise saw 15 minutes later AA received a
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notification for the e-commerce byes Twitter account it was a new private message from TU La that
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read do I have your attention now AA did not seek out an explanation for tua's abusive
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Behavior it seemed her online harasser knew where she lived and she didn't want to provoke them
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further AA maintained her silence still hoping it would succeed as a deterrent but Tu La continued to bombard her with
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messages like you're a fat [ __ ] [ __ ] David needs to put you in line [ __ ] a day later David Steiner was sent
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an Amazon package of his own it contained a book titled grief Diaries surviving the loss of a
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spouse 2A sent more messages to wner throughout the day repeatedly demanding to know what her problem was with
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eBay the truth was that AA didn't have one sure she had written an article about the company's lawsuit with Amazon
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that could be interpreted as critical but it was hardly scathing or destructive and although it wasn't the
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first time she'd scrutinized eBay's business practices she afforded them the same degree of respectful critique that
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she gave every company she wrote about earlier that year she had reported positively on eBay's promise to give
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sellers greater protection it was bizarre to think someone would go to such lengths to
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punish her for holding a rather mild and inconsequential opinion AA refused to engage TOA in any
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discourse of course believing the person behind the username must be unwell then on Tuesday August 13 almost
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a week after tua's harassment began David Steiner received a voicemail from a representative at Adam and Eve a US
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company that sells adult toys online they were responding to David's proped interest in opening a franchise
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store neither David nor AA had expressed any interest in such an Endeavor that same day Tu La tweeted
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e-commerce bys asking are you there why won't you answer me many families including mine
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make money to pay for food clothes and rent by selling on eBay your stupid idiot comments are
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pushing buyers away from eBay and hurting families stop it now these messages only served to further
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confuse eer and David at the time eBay was ranked in the 200s in Fortune 500 an annual list of
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the 500 largest US industrial corporations as measured by gross income the company had a market value of
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over 47 billion and employed 13,000 people worldwide if it was completely unreasonable to think aa's nonpartisan
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cometry in her Niche corner of the internet could impact such an industry Powerhouse even if it did shouldn't the
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contempt be directed at eBay itself AA was only reporting the facts if the business was faltering then the
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solution would be fixing its problems silencing AA might go some way to improving public perception of the
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company but wouldn't resolve the actual issues sellers were facing tu's idiot comments remark was
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particularly strange as the Steiners carried themselves like respected journalists they didn't get involved in
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frivolous or Petty internet drama the next day the Steiners received a package from Carolina biological
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Supply a company based in North Carolina that sold science related products [Music]
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they opened it and were alarmed to discover it contained fly larvey and live spiders a second package arrived that
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same day this one from an insect supply company based in Kansas it held live cockroaches Tu La tweeted the
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couple Ina when you hurt our business you hurt our families people will do anything to protect
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family AA and David were rattled with no idea who was behind the 2A account the couple began increasing their security
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measures they installed video cameras outside their home added some battery powered alarms and reported the
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harassment to the Nik Police Department which agreed to conduct patrols of the couple's
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home the following day the Steiners were mortified to learn that two of their neighbors had received packages with
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David's name on them that contained quote barely legal pornography later that day a florist
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dropped off an ominous funeral wreath with a card that featured aa's name this marked the couple's second
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death themed delivery meanwhile the miners had noticed a black Dodge minivan with New
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York license plates circling their neighborhood David sensed the vehicle was following him and felt certain he
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was going to be killed he took note of the minivan's license plate and reported it to
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police officers searched for the vehicle in their databases but nothing came up that corresponded with the information
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provided by the Steiners they nevertheless put out a call on police radi radio to be on the
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lookout for the vehicle it wasn't cited again that evening an emergency plumber was sent to the Steiner's
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home at 4:30 a.m. the following night a black car stopped outside their house a male driver emerged and pulled
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out a large leather B which David thought contained a rifle he shouted to Winer to call the
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police but it was a false alarm the leather bag contained pizzas $70 worth ordered on behalf of the sters that
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needed to be paid for shortly before 2: p.m. on Sunday August 18 more than 2 weeks after the
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harassment began the TU laa Twitter account publicly posted Ein Steiner's personal contact details including her
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residential address this act is known as doxing and is a common method of online harassment
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and intimidation 3 minutes later 2A sent AA a private message asking you get my gifts
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[ __ ] this explicitly confirmed that the person threatening the Steiners online
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was the same one sending them unwanted deliveries however Tu laa had made a mistake doxing was against Twitter's
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user policy the platform took down the offending posts and the two account was suspended
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preventing its use for the time being yet two L's suspension did a little to settle the Steiner's
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nerves David now believed he was being followed by a silver or gray Toyota Rav 4
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GMC when he went to take pictures of the vehicle with his cell phone it drove away David didn't notice it tailing him
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again police took the Steiner's concerns seriously and sent an undercover officer
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to observe the couple's house from an unmarked Jeep with tinted windows but the officer saw no
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suspicious activity The Unwanted deliveries continued including additional pieces to
00:15:53
the Steiner residents and more pornography in David's name to one of their neighbors
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on Tuesday August 20 the police were called to the Steiner's home yet again the couple told them that multiple
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strangers had shown up at their house in response to an advertisement for a week-long garage sale posted on yard Sal
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search.com the listing which featured the Steiner's home address included the message we are moving out of the country
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soon and are trying to get rid of as many of our possessions as possible if we are not outside feel free to knock
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on the door maybe we can make a deal if you see something you like these weren't the only uninvited
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guests the Stein has received a post titled block party in NAIC let's have some fun had been
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uploaded on the classified advertisements website Craigs List alongside their address hey we are some fun locals
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hosting guests for an open house while the owners are out of town for the next week the post
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claimed come knock on the door ring the doorbell anytime of day or night block parties will start about 1 p.m. but will
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go late singles couples swingers okay college students are welcome several other Craigslist posts
00:17:23
also encouraged people to visit the Steiner's home one referred to the Steiner is as mature professionals
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looking to have some fun at home and asked specifically for singles or other couples open to exploring threesim BDSM
00:17:41
and crossdressing on Wednesday August 21 AA Steiner received a comment on Twitter
00:17:52
from a new account named Al Tui the username was an inversion of the 2 laa account Andor immediately
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suspected it was the same person trying to bypass their Twitter suspension her suspicions were confirmed
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when she read Al toi's message nice try AA you can't shut me down Al Tui sent Ana the same vulgar and
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insulting accusations centered around the misguided belief that she was trying to irreparably damage eBay's
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reputation well still other Anonymous Twitter users came forward to support aloui one wrote years of lies and
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destroying families don't be proud of that you worthless [ __ ] I will destroy your family and business too see how you
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like it the same user tagged laay to's account asking when are we going to visit her in
00:18:55
NQ another user replied I agree Ina is hurting small businesses with all the negativity and pushing
00:19:04
buyers to Amazon a third user with a disturbing image of a pig's head as their profile
00:19:11
picture added AA focus on something else and stop [ __ ] with our customers I don't want to see another
00:19:20
[ __ ] post about eBay leave our business alone this same user wrote to a Tui directly asking what's aa's address
00:19:32
again guess I have to pay her a visit Al Tui replied with the Steiner's home address resulting in a suspension
00:19:41
for doxing the other accounts were new had few to no followers and wrote in a similar way to Al Tui indicating they
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were all run by the same person but AA couldn't be sure there was also the possibility that they
00:20:00
were other trolls attracted to Al tui's drama while being unconnected to it however one of the accounts featured the
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name of a prominent eBay seller leading AA to question whether she had in fact drawn the community's
00:20:19
ey whatever the case AER and David Steiner were so profoundly terrorized they were unable to
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rest both were riddled with Stress and Anxiety that manifested in physical symptoms they couldn't go out in public
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without worrying that they were being followed concerned about identity theft fraud and financial harm they froze all
00:20:42
their accounts the hard-earned reputation of e-commerce BS was being destroyed Before
00:20:49
Their Eyes the Steiners could do little else but bunker down at home they canell
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countless visits with friend friends and family out of fear they would expose their loved ones to the stalking
00:21:03
campaign AA and David decided to sleep in separate bedrooms so that if there was a home invasion and one of them was
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attacked the other could escape and call for help David stayed at the front of the
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house in the main bedroom where he constantly watched a live feed of the property security
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cameras AA was in a spare bedroom at the rear the the couple had set up a homemade booby trap against the back
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door consisting of baking tray stacked on top of a laundry card if anyone tried to break in through the back at night AA
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would hear them the couple were Paralyzed by constant fear of what would happen next
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they felt a sense of dread with every knock at the door terrified that a killer had finally arrived to follow
00:21:54
through on their threat mean while the naq police department was actively investigating
00:22:02
the harassment they had a few tenuous leads with the most significant coming from
00:22:08
David Steiner he had managed to snap a photo of the license plate of a gray colored
00:22:14
Toyota Rav 4 GMC he suspected was following him the vehicle belonged to a car rental
00:22:22
company called Enterprise their records showed that at the time David believed he was being
00:22:27
stalked by the vehicle it had been leased to a woman named Veronica Z this wasn't the only connection
00:22:36
investigators made to Veronica some of the items sent to the Steiners were bought using prepaid debit
00:22:43
cards and gift cards purchased in the California City of Santa Clara where Veronica
00:22:50
resided store CCTV had recorded Veronica buying the cart police uncovered that Veronica Zay
00:23:00
had a recent booking at a richz carton luxury hotel in Boston a 30-minute drive from the Steiner home in
00:23:08
nck the Steiners confirmed that they had no history with Veronica but curiously it was discovered that she worked for
00:23:22
eBay Veronica Zay was first employed by eBay in 2017 when she was 2 3 years old despite her lack of interest in
00:23:32
technology and having Barely Used eBay's website Veronica's degree in criminology
00:23:37
secured her a role at the company's headquarters in San Jose California Veronica worked her way up
00:23:44
from the role of intelligence operator a security guard type role to intelligence
00:23:50
analyst in the global security and resiliency division it was a small close-knit team
00:23:57
consisting mostly of former police and security Personnel responsible for staying ahead of small and large scale
00:24:03
threats to the company they investigated Persons of Interest individuals who posed a threat
00:24:10
to eBay and its staff and monitored them to ensure employee safety it was a necessary measure
00:24:18
especially in the aftermath of a 2018 spray shooting at the headquarters of video sharing website
00:24:25
YouTube in that incident multiple YouTube employees were injured by a woman with a personal vandetta against
00:24:32
the company as Veronica Z had never worked an office job before she was somewhat
00:24:39
out of her depth and reliant on the expertise of more experienced staff members one was her immediate supervisor
00:24:48
eBay's senior director of Safety and Security James bore he was a firm intimidating man who
00:24:55
wanted employees to do what they were told without asking questions one time he found a knife left
00:25:02
out on a barbecue grill on site and proceeded to maniacally stab a chair with it chastising his crew that a
00:25:09
deranged individual could have used the weapon to hurt someone James was a film buff and would
00:25:17
summon staff into a boardroom to show them scenes from movies that he deemed significant in one scene characters were
00:25:26
executed to make a point another involved criminal suspects who refused to give information to
00:25:34
police on at least five occasions Veronica was forced to watch a scene from a television drama in which a
00:25:41
billionaire warned a subordinate you don't try to be loyal you just are James bore also liked the film meet
00:25:51
the [ __ ] in which a retired CIA agent speaks of a circle of trust his ter for the small group of individuals he
00:26:00
trusted James would reference the circle of trust within the workplace when talking about something he felt no one
00:26:07
else should know James B tried to foster a family-like environment in the office
00:26:14
and told his team to call him dad for James loyalty was Paramount but he was an unpredictable leader who kept
00:26:24
staff on edge no matter their fty on one occasion he had his employees personal belongings stripped from their
00:26:32
lockers and dumped into trash bags in order to teach them that they were not entitled to privacy at
00:26:40
[Music] work Veronica Zay was hired as a contract worker and because she hoped to
00:26:48
One Day become a full-time employee she was cautious not to do anything that could jeopardize her
00:26:54
goal there was a high turnover rate in her office and many of the people she started out with mostly older men were
00:27:02
quickly replaced by young blondhair women James B would call them his angels in reference to the trio of fictional
00:27:11
female detectives Charlie's Angels who were known for being attractive Veronica didn't like James
00:27:19
PA's Behavior or the cult-like atmosphere of her office but she kept her contempt to
00:27:25
herself she had no desire to rock the boat as staff were fired unpredictably and for any perceived
00:27:33
indiscretion female employees were let go for not smiling at Executives chewing on pens and singing to themselves during
00:27:42
quiet night shifts eBay's top AB brass were aware of the dysfunctional and discriminatory
00:27:49
work culture but didn't address it the situation only worsened when a hedge fund known for being particular
00:27:58
particularly ruthless bought a large stake of eBay and began demanding internal changes the pressure was felt across the
00:28:06
board from Veronica Zay in intelligence analytics all the way up to eBay's chief
00:28:11
executive officer Devin wenig the CEO was dismayed to learn that in a letter to eBay's board of directors
00:28:20
the hedge fund alluded to replacing him due to the company's underperformance [Music]
00:28:32
Devon wenck was a contentious figure in the e-commerce Community for the way he oversaw
00:28:38
eBay AA Steiner often named the CEO when reporting on eBay's latest business moves good and bad in her online
00:28:46
newsletter e-commerce bites and it was because of him that her professional relationship with eBay
00:28:53
corroded over time in the early days of Ecom bites eBay advocated for and collaborated with
00:29:01
the publication they invited eer and David Steiner to interview executive team members as well as other employees and
00:29:10
contractors many eBay Executives and employees subscribed to e-commerce bites including high level management and
00:29:18
public relations Personnel but from May 2012 onwards CEO Devin wenig started taking issue with
00:29:27
the St as reporting on eBay and its upper management specifically when they published anything that highlighted the
00:29:35
companies or his faults Ina allowed readers to leave comments on her articles and some
00:29:42
emboldened by online anonymity were particularly vitriolic towards Devon wenck they referred to eBay as a corrupt
00:29:52
organization that offered sellers no help and burdened them with excessive fees overregulation
00:29:58
penalties selling limits NeverEnding glitches and false customer feedback Devin W was called a joke a
00:30:07
fraud and delusional with some asserting that he should have been fired years earlier this led to an overall attitude
00:30:17
shift towards e-commerce bites at eBay they once accused the publication of being a fishing site a means used by
00:30:25
cyber criminals to trick people into giving up personal information eBay later admitted this
00:30:32
accusation was an error and retracted its report but the admission didn't ease tensions criticisms of the Steiners and
00:30:42
their publication began appearing in the comment sections of their own articles the accounts responsible also
00:30:50
attacked other legitimate readers who came to the couple's defense the problematic accounts were
00:30:56
traced to YP addresses associated with eBay it was clear eBay employees were creating fake online identities to
00:31:06
attack the Steiners in April 2019 Ina wrote an article about how Devon wenck made 152
00:31:18
times the average salary of his employees irritated Devon texted his colleague eBay's senior vice president
00:31:26
and chief of communications Officer Steve wymer who shared his frustrations they believed that AA
00:31:34
Steiner was purposefully getting people worked up due to the way she skewed her stories Devon told Steve that they were
00:31:43
going to crush her the two men reached out to eBay's Global Security and resiliency division
00:31:51
specifically to team leader James bore in turn he informed Veronica Z and another analyst Stephanie Stockwell of
00:32:00
the situation the two women were instructed to screenshot e-commerce bys newsletters
00:32:07
and forward them to James B via WhatsApp an encrypted messaging app on a realtime
00:32:13
basis day or night any day of the week this was to keep executive leadership up to dat on an immediate
00:32:23
basis in the meantime Devin wck and Steve wymer hired a consult firm they produced a report
00:32:32
titled next steps alternative digital methods for reducing impact of eina Steiner and David Steiner and e-commerce
00:32:41
byes the report outlined actionable strategies that would drive the Steiner articles lower in search engine
00:32:53
results one regular commenter on e-commerce BS went by the US username phto Master they were a resident troll
00:33:01
known for stirring up a drama phom Master posted under various other usernames with their unsuck eBay
00:33:10
account named for their biggest gripe their dislike of the company spilled beyond the e-commerce by comment
00:33:18
section onto Twitter where they harassed the business directly sometimes phto Master
00:33:25
impersonated official eBay Communications by by using a distorted version of the company's
00:33:31
logo they also provided parody answers to customer questions directed at eBay's official Twitter
00:33:38
account in an e-commerce byes article posted in May 2019 AA Steiner wrote about how eBay had built an expensive
00:33:47
replica of a popular Manhattan bar called walkers at their headquarters in California quote it's probably news to
00:33:57
sellers and shareholders that eBay has a pub like Lounge on campus especially one
00:34:03
built with what appears to be no expenses spared this news drew the eye of phto Master who tweeted a link to the article
00:34:13
with a message calling the bar a self-indulgent vanity project that was a throwback to internet and gaming company
00:34:20
CEO's lavish over spending on Legacy facilities and landmarks photo Mar Master called out
00:34:28
CEO Devin wenig by name criticizing him for undertaking the project while eBay was experiencing cost reduction layoffs
00:34:37
and scrutiny by activist investors even though phto Master's tweets about eBay only a master dozen or
00:34:46
so likes the company's security division kept a large file on the unknown identity James B and two other senior
00:34:55
members of the security division named ran Gilbert and David Harville suspected that phto Master was either In Cahoots
00:35:02
with the Steiners or a sock puppet account a false online identity used for deceptive
00:35:10
purposes they figured if phto master was a sock puppet then eer and David Steiner
00:35:16
were behind it Devin wenig and Steve wymer were fed up in one email Steve claimed that the
00:35:26
Steiner's website gave him ulcers harmed employee morale and trickled into everything about their
00:35:33
brand he wrote I genuinely believe these people are acting out of malice and someone
00:35:41
chose to let this slide it has grown to a point that is absolutely unacceptable it's the Blind Eye toward
00:35:49
graffiti that turns into Mayhem syndrome and I'm sick about it Steve as well as Devon wanted the
00:35:57
Steiners silenced the men granted the security division cart blanch to take down the
00:36:06
Steiners whatever it takes Steve wymer asserted in an email he promised to manage any bad
00:36:13
Fallout and made it clear that the security team would receive support and backing from the executive leadership at
00:36:20
eBay regardless of the volatility or Force used against the Steiners they didn't care that AA was
00:36:29
merely exercising Her First Amendment right to report on eBay as she had done for years without
00:36:35
issue at no point did she fabricate information about the company attack them unfairly or discourage her readers
00:36:43
from using their services her publication was highly regarded within the e-commerce Community
00:36:50
for providing balanced reporting AA herself had gained considerable Goodwill and recognition
00:36:57
for her vast knowledge and was a widely cited Authority on Marketplace selling still for her critics at eBay
00:37:05
taking down Ina would send a message to all journalists that negative reporting of their company would not be
00:37:15
tolerated on Saturday June 8th 2019 senior eBay security division team member Brian Gilbert flew across the
00:37:23
country to Boston he then drove to the Steiner his home in NAIC and scrolled the word phto
00:37:30
Master on the couple's front fence to no effect then acting at the direction of senior director of Safety and Security
00:37:40
James bour Brian began reconnaissance into the Steiner's lives he attended a yard sale at the
00:37:47
couple's home falsely posing as a potential buyer to gain intelligence he then returned to webay
00:37:54
headquarters in California to help devise a plan to stop the Steiners once and for
00:38:04
all the security team's plan was dubbed the White Knight strategy a white knight
00:38:10
being a term for someone who comes to another's Aid basically they would secretly harass
00:38:17
the Steiners until the couple feared for their lives then they would offer eBay's
00:38:23
assistance to help stop the attacks they believed this would win the Steiner's favor and deter them from
00:38:31
covering eBay unfavorably in the future it All Began on Thursday August 1 2019 after AA Steiner posted her article
00:38:42
on eBay's law suit against Amazon in it she mentioned comments made by CEO Devin wenck adding that he
00:38:50
seemingly lacked appreciation for sellers desire to diversify selling channels the comment ments section was
00:38:58
flooded with messages critical of eBay one commenter asked how about instead of trying to sue Amazon you just make eBay
00:39:07
a better place for sellers after seeing the feedback from the article eBay VP Steve wymer texted
00:39:16
security head James bore saying iner is out with a hot piece on the litigation if we are ever going to
00:39:24
take her down now is the time hatred is a sin I am very sinful I want her done Ina is a biased troll who needs to
00:39:36
get burned down I want to see ashes as long as it takes whatever it takes James B and his team of six
00:39:49
including Brian Gilbert David Harville Stephanie Stockwell Veronica Zay and two other eBay security analysts named
00:39:57
Philip cook and Stephanie pop launched a series of ployees they had brainstormed
00:40:04
together their aim was to intimidate threaten torture terrorize and ultimately silence the
00:40:12
Steiners they created the Twitter account Tu LA and later La Tui and other supportive sock puppet accounts to
00:40:20
bombard the couple around the clock with frightening online messages they mailed them disturbing p
00:40:27
packages and sent strangers to their house at all hours some traveled to Boston to stalk
00:40:33
the couple in rented Vehicles they monitored NQ police's radio communications and when they heard
00:40:40
messages about the car they were in they returned it and rented a new one one time they paused to their
00:40:48
surveillance upon noticing an undercover officer in an unmarked jeep was keeping
00:40:53
an eye on the couple's home another time the Steiners reported the license plate details of a Dodge
00:41:00
minivan the group were in but the couple were off by one letter preventing a positive
00:41:08
ID the eBay group plotted to put a tracking device on the Steiner's car and even practiced doing so but were
00:41:15
thwarted by the couple parking in their garage David Harville purchased tools and rubber gloves so he could break into
00:41:23
the Steiner's garage but the plan ultimately fell through the group had other ideas that didn't
00:41:31
come to fruition including ordering the Steiners an exotic dancer and sending a coffin to their
00:41:39
home they covered their tracks by registering for a software development conference in Boston that they never
00:41:45
intended to attend giving them a reason to be in the area the team also used encrypted
00:41:52
messaging apps and email accounts laptops with undetectable IP addresses burner phones and prepaid debit
00:42:00
cards they also created a dossier on the Steiners falsely accusing them of being
00:42:05
Persons of Interest for threats they made against eBay and its executive management the document was to be given
00:42:13
to police if the group was compromised to discredit the Steiners and make them appear dangerous thus defaming their
00:42:20
reputations and credibility after naq police identified Veronica Zay and discovered her connection to webay
00:42:33
they sought to interview her but when they called Veronica's cell phone James bore
00:42:40
answered he lied telling police that he was Veronica's husband and that all questions for her could be directed to
00:42:48
him following the call James drove Veronica to the airport to flee Massachusetts police police then reached
00:42:57
out to eBay directly via an email account that happened to be overseen by Brian Gilbert one of the
00:43:05
conspirators Brian traveled to naq to speak with authorities in person telling them that eBay had no involvement in the
00:43:13
intimidation or threats perpetrated against the Steiners he even brazenly offered eBay's
00:43:20
assistance to investigate the matter however the conspirators were starting to suspect that The Jig was
00:43:28
up they reconvened in a conference room at eBay's headquarters to discuss their next
00:43:35
steps James B ordered his team not to talk to anyone and to keep the names of CEO Devin wck and Senior VP Steve wymer
00:43:45
out of all conversations whenever police called any of the staff members for further
00:43:51
inquiries the conversation was put on loudspeaker so everyone could listen in and maintain a consistent
00:43:59
story Stephanie pop posted five new tweets from one of the accounts used to harass the Steiners to give the illusion
00:44:07
that the perpetrators were still at large it didn't work the entire plot was gradually
00:44:17
exposed by NAIC detectives eBay terminated the seven employees involved all of whom were
00:44:24
charged with various conspiracy offenses pertaining to cyber stalking witness tampering and
00:44:31
stalking some also faced charges for the attempted cover up and obstruction of the criminal
00:44:38
investigation the charges carried a sentence of up to 5 years in prison 3 years of supervised release a fine of up
00:44:46
to $250,000 and restitution all seven of the conspirators ultimately pleaded guilty
00:44:54
and provided full admissions their confessions along with a forensic examination of their communication
00:45:01
devices provided a detailed picture of their crimes they received varying sentences
00:45:09
including probation community service fines and upwards of 57 months prison time James bore the ring leader who
00:45:19
received the harshest sentence turned to the Steiners during his hearing and said I was 100% responsible for
00:45:27
everything that happened on my watch for that I am truly sorry eBay permitted CEO Devin wck to
00:45:38
resign with a $57 million severance package senior Vice President Steve wymer was terminated with an undisclosed
00:45:48
severance package both men denied any direct involvement in the harassment of the
00:45:54
Steiners and maintained they had done nothing wrong in a statement Steve wymer insisted there was no Direction no
00:46:05
knowledge no private understanding no tcid approval ever I was just speaking off the
00:46:13
cuff Devin wenig made similar remarks in his own statement a law firm hired by eBay to
00:46:22
investigate the harassment concluded that neither Devon wenig or Steve wymer directed or knew that criminal acts
00:46:30
would follow their orders an internal investigation deemed the men's messages inappropriate but it
00:46:39
too asserted there was no evidence the pair had authorized or had prior knowledge of the acts directed towards
00:46:45
the Steiners both men easily slotted into leadership positions at other companies
00:46:52
with no concerns expressed about their history at eBay a according to Federal prosecutors
00:46:58
the evidence uncovered during the police investigation was insufficient to charge
00:47:03
either man with any crimes in an exclusive interview with the New York Times Veronica Z revealed
00:47:14
that her participation in the geme had a longlasting impact on her life when her new employer found out
00:47:21
about it Veronica was immediately fired she struggled to find another job and had to move back in with her
00:47:29
parents she said that she hadn't enjoyed harassing the steinet and she'd often call her mother in tears about her own
00:47:38
actions despite this the pressure manipulation and a toxic environment at eBay compelled her to continue doing
00:47:45
something that she knew was wrong quote it's easy to say why didn't I leave but in the moment I was terrified
00:47:55
and stuck I am so sorry I regret playing even a small role here if I could go back in
00:48:04
time and prevent the Steiners from experiencing this in any way I would do so in a
00:48:10
heartbeat I don't know when I'll ever trust an employer again or when an employer will ever trust
00:48:19
me the New York Times also Tracked Down the person behind the online account phto Master whose trolling had led in
00:48:27
part to the Steiners ordeal some of the offenders had thought the Steiners themselves were behind the
00:48:35
account despite there being no evidence to support this it turned out that phyto Master
00:48:42
wasn't connected to the couple in any way his wife was an eBay seller and he just wanted to vent online about the
00:48:50
issues he had with the company he clarified that he had never conspired with the Steiners to damage
00:48:57
eBay's reputation as a direct result of their former employees actions eBay had to pay
00:49:06
a $3 million fine they have also since apologized to the Steiners and according to their new
00:49:13
CEO Jamie aanon the company has strengthened its policies procedures controls and training while remaining
00:49:22
committed to upholding high standards of conduct and ethics in 2021 the Steiners filed a lawsuit
00:49:32
against eBay the seven defendants in the criminal case and several other relevant
00:49:37
parties including Devin winig and Steve wymer although the two former eBay VIPs had denied involvement in or knowledge
00:49:46
of the crimes committed against the Steiners the couple suspected this wasn't entirely
00:49:52
true forensic copies of Steve wy's personal and company cell phones showed that Communications from August 2019
00:50:01
were missing leading authorities to believe they were deleted however records recovered from
00:50:09
other participants devices showed that multiple text messages and emails were sent to Steve wymer informing him about
00:50:16
some of their activities when one conspirator emailed Steve to tell him the police were
00:50:23
investigating eBay Steve replied please do not do anything until I can check a few things I don't want us to
00:50:33
engage the Steiners believed that Steve wymer at least should have been indicted
00:50:38
for obstructing justice destroying evidence and misleading an investigation their attorney
00:50:45
stated I think the federal government is taking the position that they didn't have enough evidence to indict wymer and
00:50:52
other Executives our position is that you can't find the evidence you're not looking
00:50:59
for they just weren't looking the Civil proceedings are still underway as of June
00:51:09
2024 as a result of the harassment iror and David suffered permanent psychological trauma and significant
00:51:16
economic damage despite this the sters continue to publish e-commerce biots and still
00:51:23
report on news pertaining to eBay while they never made any public statements in the aftermath of the
00:51:30
harassment AA wrote a number of articles on the case maintaining her trademark fact-based and unbiased reporting with
00:51:39
no personal opinions provided [Music] [Music] for