Con artists have scammed unsuspecting Australians out of thousands of dollars through bogus shopping websites registered using the stolen credentials of legitimate businesses.
Six spurious websites with ".com.au" domain names have been identified in an investigation by West Australian customer protection officials.
The sites, which have now disappeared, took money for cut-price iPads, iPhones, cameras and other gadgets but never sent the goods to customers.
Carmelo Tassone, a Perth business owner, told AAP he lost $3,900 after he ordered 12 iPads on thefoneshop.com.au that never showed up.
He hasn't been able to recover the money because he paid via a direct transfer to the perpetrator's bank account.
Consumer forums have been inundated with similar reports.
Alan Hynd, a customer protection spokesman for the Western Australia Department of Commerce, said the websites disappeared before the department's investigation had been completed.
A seventh - futuregaming.com.au - was deleted on Friday after officials lodged a request with .au Domain Administration (auDA) - the regulator of ".com.au" domain names.
The sites, which are believed to be the work of a single person or group, were registered using the stolen trading names and ABNs of legitimate companies.
Under auDA's regulations, applicants for a ".com.au" domain need only provide domain registrars a trading name and an ABN, which are easily found on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's website.
Domain registrars are only required to check whether the ABN is genuine. They are not compelled to verify whether the applicant is connected to the business.
"We can only take action if the domain name registration breaches auDA policy, not if the website is fake or bogus," said Jo Lim, auDA's head of operations and policy.
"That is a matter for the relevant fair trading or consumer protection body."
Mr Tassone criticised the system for allowing anyone to use publicly-listed business information to register a seemingly legitimate website.
"We've got all this regulation, but nothing to enforce it," he said.
Neil Moreton, a community manager at the consumer advocacy website OzBargain.com.au, called for the regulations to be strengthened.
"auDA should have a verification process to determine if the ABN registered for a domain is correct," he said.
"At the very least they should respond to reports from the public. It's as easy as asking for some documentation, similar to the way PayPal occasionally audits accounts for ID verification."
He advised customers never to give money to websites via direct bank deposit.
The owners of the businesses whose details were used to establish the websites could not be reached for comment.
Customers of the following websites have been told to contact consumer protection:
- thefoneshop.com.au
- affordableappliances.com.au
- directcamerawarehouse.com.au
- hdcameras.com.au
- xtremegopro.com.au
- totaltelevisions.com.au
- futuregaming.com.au
