Crooks have moved into the Web world. Hackers illegally re-direct shoppers from a popular Web site to a second bogus one which the hackers have created. Innocent electronic shoppers can be duped into paying for products which don't exist, and revealing their precious credit card details. The scam is just another inventive crime from cheats exploiting the Internet boom.
Electronic commerce represents the future, but holds many traps.
In Australia, it could help to overcome distance by opening new markets and creating thousands of hi-tech jobs. The explosion of the Internet has already occurred locally, with more than four million Australian adults connecting to the Web last year. About 10 per cent of these took the next step and used it to buy goods. But for Australian businesses, the initial signs are not good with local firms lagging behind the rest of the world, especially the United States, in Internet sales. The worse news is that Australian Internet shoppers are turning their backs on local products.