I've been looking around online for game deals today and came across this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/150-US-PSN-account-for-PS3-trusted-seller_W0QQitemZ270560206420QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games_Games?hash=item3efea51e54

Basically for $10 you get a user ID and password for a PSN account with $150 dollars in it.  I checked the sellers feedback and it's all positive.  How are they pulling this off and can they be doing it legally? 

lol wtf

I know...how the hell are they pulling this off?

It's not legal. They've stolen PSN balance cards and attached them to the account. Likely because they figured the cards themselves can be traced but the account can't. Not very good logic but it's the most likely thing I can think of.

That was kind of my thought, but does ebay crackdown anything illegal? This seller has sold hundreds of these.  You figure somebody would have caught on by now.

Wow... tempting....

Well, it can't exactly be easily proven that the seller stole anything. If whoever they're stealing from begins an investigation, it's possible that person would come up but it's hard to prove because they don't have direct access to the card numbers. I know this because I used to work for Amazon and I had friends that would regularly steal Xbox Live cards, then sell 'em on eBay.

I dont know how amazon does it but dont the cards need to be activated? At target we need to scan the bar code and activation code. Then complete the sale. If we dont put any money in the drawer we would be short cash.

There are two different kinds of cards. At Target, you primarily sell the ones that, like you said, have to be activated. Those ones are just straight-up cards with no external packaging.

Amazon sells the other kind (which, btw, some retail stores DO sell as well). These are inside plastic packaging and don't require any activation at all. Just cut open the packaging, remove the card, and you're good to go. With or without purchase.

weird...i wonder if sony knows about this or is investigating?