A run-time algorithm for detecting shill bidding in online auctions

Abstract

Online auctions are a popular and convenient way to engage in ecommerce. However, the amount of auction fraud has increased with the rapid surge of users participating in online auctions. Shill bidding is the most prominent type of auction fraud where a seller submits bids to inflate the price of the item without the intention of winning. Mechanisms have been proposed to detect shill bidding once an auction has finished. However, if the shill bidder is not detected during the auction, an innocent bidder can potentially be cheated by the end of the auction. Therefore, it is essential to detect and verify shill bidding in a running auction and take necessary intervention steps accordingly. This paper proposes a run-time statistical algorithm, referred to as the Live Shill Score, for detecting shill bidding in online auctions and takes appropriate actions towards the suspected shill bidders (e.g., issue a warning message, suspend the auction, etc.). The Live Shill Score algorithm also uses a Post-Filtering Process to avoid misclassification of innocent bidders. Experimental results using both simulated and commercial auction data show that our proposed algorithm can potentially detect shill bidding attempts before an auction ends.