In law enforcement, a fence is an individual who knowingly buys stolen property for later resale in a (usually) legitimate market. As a verb, the word describes the behavior of the thief in the transaction:The burglar fenced the radio.

The fence is able to make a significant profit because he is able to pay thieves a very low price for stolen goods; thieves agree to this because their alternatives (such as directly soliciting passersby on a crowded street, or selling the goods on eBay or at a flea market) may present a greater risk of the thief being caught, and will take more time. The fence then disguises the stolen nature of the goods, if possible, and is then able to sell them at or near the usual wholesale price. This article is about the online auction center. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Depending on the stolen item, the fence may attempt to remove, deface, or replace serial numbers on the stolen item before reselling it.

Fencing is illegal almost everywhere, usually under a similar rationale as in the United States, where receipt of stolen property is a federal crime. Occasionally police will temporarily set up a fencing operation in order to let the word spread that a good fence is available in the area, and then trap a number of thieves. In the United States, it is a federal crime under (18 USC 2315) to knowingly receive or conceal or dispose of stolen property with a value of $5,000 or more and thats a part of interstate commerce (i. ... In the United States, a federal crime or federal offence is a crime that is either made illegal by U.S. federal legislation or a crime that occurs on U.S. federal property. ...

Pawnbrokers have often been associated with fencing, though in many jurisdictions, government ID must be shown in order to pawn an item. In any event, pawnbrokers vigorously resist this characterization. A pawnbroker offers monetary loans in exchange for an item of value to the given pawn broker. ...

Money laundering could be described as the fencing of currency. Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. ...

E-fencing

E-fencing is the sale of stolen or shoplifted items on the internet.

An eBay spokesman has claimed, "Perhaps the dumbest place to try to fence stolen materials is on eBay," and news agencies have reported incidents of the police purchasing stolen property directly from thieves, leading to their capture. However, one California prosecutor differs with this, saying, "There's no need for the pawnbroker. Internet auctions have suddenly become a really easy way to fence stuff". [1]

According to CNBC in January 2007^[1] , efencing is a $37 billion business. Retailers have been complaining about the online sale of their stolen goods but the online auction industry has taken the stance that retailers need to do more policing instead. eBay's Vice President of Trust & Safety Rob Chesnut stated '..It's the job of these major retailers to prevent criminals from lifting their products.'

The quote from eBay above is pure marketing tripe.[2] The dirty little secret of eBay is that it's probably the largest fencing operation on the planet.

See also

• Handling