BUREAUCRATS didn't need to look guiltily over their shoulders last week as they trawled the internet for sleazy dating sites, amazing body enhancement promises, unbelievable ticketing bargains, glitzy travel resorts and get-rich-quick schemes.

They were hunting down dodgy websites as part of an annual crackdown on fraud over the internet organised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Up to 100 bureaucrats from dozens of government departments across Australia swept the web for promises that were too good to be true.

The commission has already taken action to close down a website offering cash for body organs.

The website cashfororgans.com.au claimed to link transplant donors with recipients for a fee. It even hinted that people might be able to sell their organs through the site. Selling organs is illegal in Australia.

Another site offering designer clothes which turned out to be fake was closed and the owners taken to court. But the operators of the Designer Brand Outlet site, Bindert (Ben) Kloosterman and Xin Fang Shi (also known as Lucy Shi), have fled to China. Their Australian assets have been frozen in an effort to compensate people who lost money.

Foreign students were being stung by a property rental scam in which the website showed photos of a flat for rent but demanded a downpayment before the victim found out it was not for rent at all.

The commission's deputy chairman Peter Kell said they had uncovered a scam in which genealogy sites offered to search your family history for a fee.

"Many of them only provide useless information that you can get free elsewhere or provide nothing at all," Mr Kell said.

He said the biggest problem was tracking down the originators of fraudulent websites and those who were getting the money.

"The operators could be in Europe, Asia or America and that is why we conducted this internet sweep in co-ordination with consumer protection agencies in 20 countries around the world. They are getting better at making sites look realistic and trustworthy.

"The Beijing Olympic ticket scam was a prime example. They made a close match to the Olympic logo to make it look genuine. People should make sure it is a legitimate site before they send money."