This is actually normal in the world of “auctions”.
She ended up with it because she put in a shill bid to bump up the price or make it look like someone else was interested.
Either no one else bid on it or she bid higher than anyone else was willing to so she ended up with it.
I see this ALL THE TIME in classic car auctions where I know the people and items involved. Everyone knows it goes on and no one seems to care. It is also a Social Event and there is a different Social Contract in play for these types of things. It’s all part of the game and if you call someone out on it or complain then YOU are the problem!
This one is interesting only because it was so easy to trace the bid. Normally that is really difficult in a live auction as you have people on phones with auction reps handling them so you don’t know who is bidding and sometimes you never know who ended up with the item.
