interesting article concerning sham bidding at auction
 

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/157378475.html

It concerns antique boats but still relevant. The auctioneer doesn't think he is doing anything wrong by recruiting friends who aren't boat collectors and didn't plan on registering or bidding to bid anyway to pump up prices.

At least they were actual people bidding. I stopped an auction dead to ask who a bidder was that the auctioneer had called. He had done it several times during the day, and I was watching closely. He stammered a bit, then immediately went back a bid and wound up selling it to the guy who got phantom outbid. I'll never go back.

The problem is with online auctions houses having access, somehow, to proxy ceiling bids. They're not just going to blindly shill bid without knowing what that legitimate ceiling is. We all know who the worst of this bunch is and they remain fully operational in this scam to this day.