Creative Malfeasance on the Internet

Internet commerce seems so full of scams and shady practices these days, it may soon choke itself to death.
There is no doubt that Ebay and Amazon, etc., have made internet shopping a breeze with the latter now offering next day delivery. And Google will happily reveal another plethora of resources able to provide anything from a virus culture to an African elephant: "next day delivery, sir, make sure you have plenty of bananas."
Sadly, despite the largesse to be made honestly online by 2020, many merchants have decided to sweeten the cup by also attempting to scam us for that extra quid - or a coupla hundred pounds, as the case may be.
These creative con men are all too often guilty of one of the most glaring and nasty schemes I have been trapped with - along with thousands more, I read. It is the electronic changing of your order, between, "the cup and the lip;" in real terms, between you opting to buy an item and its arriving in your basket.
Instead of just one item at, say, £50, you now have two items for £100 on your electronic invoice. Sure, you can quickly cancel the item you didn't order by pushing the good old "X" button, but how many of us don't realize they have either been duped or the website has made an honest mistake, and we have pushed "buy it now" such as is available on Paypal, or agreed to deduct said amount from our debit or credit cards?
"What in hell's kitchen is that din?" "Sweetheart, there's TWO elephants waiting in the garden!!"
A neat and tidy way of doubling the profit for your shady trader and there's no way to prove easily that you didn't make the mistake yourself...in fact, you did by not paying attention to your screen. (Although there is a frightening manifestation of criminal intent, some dealers have started to camouflage the number of items or amount of the total)
Nearly all will, or course, refund your money and accept the return of the unwanted items. Some merchants, however, require you to repack the item like new and obtain a "return number, or even a label." Also, you will have to pay the postage until the merchant can refund this to you; many folk, especially around Christmas, smile ruefully, put it down to experience and eat the extra elephant (good with cranberry sauce!). The dealers count on this relaxed attitude and happily enjoy your money - after some time has elapsed.
There can be no doubt at all it is done, very cleverly and on purpose. It happens far too often to be explained by a glitch in the computer. And, as the success also depends on the transaction involving a fairly small amount of money - most people will act if it runs in to hundreds of pounds - unless they are footballers or others of the world's new rich..."S--t! Can always use another Ferrari; give it to the manager!" "What? They sent two gray elephants? I definitely ordered a red Ferrari!"
The trouble is, I think, we normal battlers are so bone-weary of being scammed in all sorts of ways and having to spend hours or days sorting out the mess, we do just write it off and the crooks remain unpunished.
My New Year's resolution is not to leave a stone unturned in seeking retribution and recompense from these shifty sellers. Also, if the mostly Chinese junk on offer is the wrong size or wrong anything else, no more just passing it to the charity shops or binning it, I'm gonna send it back and make sure I get a full refund. So There!

Feliz Navidad and a Prosperous New Year to all my friends on HP, and the decent, non-scamming dealers on the internet...
...boy, these elephants produce some dung!

Added later. Just yesterday, I put in a grocery order with the largest such online store in the world. Was I surprised to find five extra items I had not ordered were included in my basket? Not a bit of it! With a sigh, I removed them and then went through with a fine-toothed comb before pressing the buy-it-now button. It seems they are all at it.and you can't relax your guard for a moment.