Australia is leading a global sweep of the Internet in a major crackdown on cyber scams.
Led by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the NSW Office of Fair Trading and including 24 countries, the sweep will target Web sites offering get-rich-schemes and other dodgy promises over the next three days.
ACCC chair Graeme Samuel said the Internet is prime territory for scammers around the globe who seek to take advantage of international boundaries to avoid detection.
"Cross border cooperation is essential to combat these types of scams," he said.
Among the ACCC's victories are cases against Crowded Planet and Purple Plates.
On the Crowded Planet Web site, David "Zero Population Growth" Hughes was allegedly supplying contraceptive pills over the Internet without a prescription, which is illegal in Australia.
A court found he was in breach of the Trade Practices Act and ordered he be restrained from selling to people in the US.
The ACCC alleges the conditions have not been met and that Hughes is in contempt of court. The matter is listed for hearing in April.
In the case of Purple Plates, Purple Harmony Plates claimed its products could protect against electromagnetic radiation, strengthen the immune system and lower fatigue.
The federal court found the claims could not be reasonably demonstrated and, after failing to publish a correction on its Web site, the company and its directors were hit with $30,000 in fines.
The trader was later jailed for failing to comply.
NSW Fair Trading Minister Reba Meagher said the sweep highlighted false and misleading scams such as lottery wins, miracle cures and shonky travel deals.
Last year, there were problems identified with more than 1000 sites worldwide, of which close to 200 Australian web sites came under question.
More than 30 percent of the sites were not secured, even though they were requesting personal details such as credit card numbers.
