And yet then you see things like this [1], where the 4 year old case of a very minor eBay scammer is personally prosecuted by a state Attorney General. I guess it depends on who has time to kill. These two guys are looking at decades in prison for a scam that looks to have netted about $3K.
[1] http://ag.nv.gov/News/PR/2017/Attorney_General_Laxalt_Announ...