One always sees these auctions on Ebay for a "travel agent ID" that's supposed to get you lots of free travel, upgrades, etc... for example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1229757150

It's quite obvious that this is a scam of some kind, and that the travel ID is from an unrecognized organization, or additional payments are required, or something like that.

But my question is exactly what's the catch, how does this scam operate, and what grain of truth (if any) is there in their claims?

Again, I realize that this is a scam, so please don't warn me that it's a scam. I can surmise that much already. I just (pruriently) want to know the specifics of how the scam operates.

Maybe someone here will confess to having paid up for one of these travel agent id's?

Thanks in advance.