Well, the "minor occurence" I was involved in involved a fella who sold about a half-dozen laptops at $1K a piece then cashed and immediately pocketed the cashier's check without ever sending a computer.
I was not part of the group that was technically the eBay Auction fraud group, as my problem occurred outside of eBay. The guy emailed me, the second-highest bidder, claiming the highest bidder had failed to pay. He offered the machine to me at my most recent bid. He would only accept certified check. Fishy. I sent him a credit card check instead, and asked he forward the machine upon my mailing of the check. He did not respond.
After talking to the first guy (who won the bid and balked), I found out he'd been fleecing folks. As well, I noticed that the computer he promised me had a minor flaw - a certain configuration he alleged it had was not available for that particular make/model. I cancelled the check at no cost before it got to my credit card company.
However, Mr. Fraud had made it to a check-cashing place, who was more than willing to send me a demand for payment on the check I'd written. I sent them a letter educating them on some of the finer points of the law surrounding Negotiable Instruments and never heard from them again.
Luckily, local PD in CA contacted me via email and took a statement - I never found out if they caught the guy.
The only real loser here was the unfortunate check-cashing place, which was left holding the bag. Poor them.

Remember, as my problem occurred the way it did, eBay had absolutely no obligation to pursue it - and was quite happy to inform me of such.
Words to the unwary.