Cyber bots blamed for snatching up popular holiday toys to resell

Consumers are being warned that online bots who snatch up concert tickets are now buying up popular toys and reselling them at outrageous prices.
For example, a popular Fingerlings toy could be bought by a bot and then resold for three to 10 times the price on third-party sites.
According to experts, the bots use complex programming that can locate the product page of a popular toy even before the item goes on sale.
Then, the software scoops up thousands of products before a potential customer even has the time to manually type in shipping and payment details online.
Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling on trade groups to stop the 'Grinch bots' from scooping up the hot holiday items.