麻豆约拍

Did you fancy one of the latest generation games consoles for Christmas but couldn鈥檛 get your hands on one, despite being on the case the moment they鈥檙e heading into the shops? Same with the latest hot sell-out pair of trainers which have come onto the market?

Well, you might be up against Grinch bots - and if you are, you don't stand a chance. These are online programmes with one task to hand: shop thousands of times faster than you. The sought after items can then be sold on for a profit.

Teresa Carr is a science journalist who's been looking into the surge of what鈥檚 termed 'bot shopping'.

"You really don't stand a chance, if in that moment you're trying to buy something and a bot's trying to buy something, the bot wins. There's just no way that you can go through all the steps you need to and check out in the time they can get through that - they can get through that in milliseconds."

(Photo: A woman tries to buy an item online. Credit: Getty Images)