Ebay advises its customers about the safest ways to trade

Sara Hambridge, 28, from Leicester, sold tickets to Glastonbury, and then said they were lost in the post.

The judge at Leicester Crown Court said it appeared to be "extremely easy" to commit fraud on the internet.

Hambridge, who had previous convictions, got a nine-month suspended sentence because of ill health.

Sentencing Hambridge, judge Richard Bray told her she had taken advantage of a system which made life easy for fraudsters.

"There may be certain safeguards that I have not been told about, but that appears to be the case and you took advantage of that.

You can get on and sell anything you like Judge Richard Bray

"These trusting people, they get on the internet and they ask for a ticket and they send a cheque without any knowledge of who they are sending it to.

"Provided you don't have fraud against you on eBay, you are all right as a fraudster. You can get on and sell anything you like."

Paid back

Hambridge, a former payroll clerk who arrived at court on a mobility scooter, made �3,021 from five people, which she has since paid back, the court heard.

She initially told police she had posted out the tickets, but later admitted five counts of deception.

A spokesman for eBay, which has 3.6m items listed every day on its site, said the firm took fraud very seriously and had more than 1,000 specialists across the world dedicated to making it "one of the safest places in the world to trade".

He added: "Fewer than 0.01% of all listings on eBay result in a confirmed case of fraud, and when used properly the site is a safe and secure place to buy and sell.