Angered by the growing number of internet scams, online "vigilantes" have started to take justice into their own hands by hacking into suspected fraud sites and defacing them.

The hackers have targeted fake websites set up to resemble the sites of banks or financial institutions in recent weeks, and have inserted new pages or messages. Some say "Warning - This was a Scam Site," or "This Bank Was Fraudulent and Is Now Removed."

The efforts by the self-proclaimed "hero hackers" come amid a surge in online schemes known as "phishing" in which victims are lured to fake websites to get passwords or other personal data.

Read the complete story . (Australian IT)