The online auction house has linked up with Scotland Yard to catch crooks trying to pass off stolen mobile phones. During police raids across Greater London, 45 stolen mobiles were recovered.

Det Chief Insp Mick McNally, from the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit, told This Is Money:

"The very large majority of sellers on eBay are legitimate businesses or individuals. However, we are after the very small number of rogue traders.

"In a bid to find them, we have worked very closely with eBay's fraud investigation teams and are extremely pleased with the results so far."