FTC Floats Spammer Bounty Scheme
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The FTC stipulated that, if successful, a bounty system for spammers would have to do several things: tie eligibility to a court order, rather than civil penalties; fund rewards separately from
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An online advertiser that drove traffic to its Web sites by sending out spam with misleading subject lines has agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)&#160;complaint charging that it failed to tell consumers they had to spend money to receive so-called free products, the FTC announced Wednesday.The settlement requires Member Source Media to disclose the costs and obligations associated with the advertised products and services, and bars the company from sending e-mail that violates the CAN-SPAM Act, which regulates the sending of unsolicited e-mail. The company must also pay $200,000 in civil penalties, according to the settlement approved Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.Member Source Media -- doing business as ConsumerGain.com, PremiumPerks.com, FreeRetailRewards.com, and GreatAmericanGiveaways.com -- and the company&#8217;s owner, Chris Sommer, used deceptive spam and online advertising to lure customers to its Web sites, the FTC alleged.The company used e-mail subject lines such as, &quot;Congratulations. You&#39;ve won an iPod Video Player,&quot; &quot;Here are 2 free iPod Nanos for You: confirm now,&quot; and &quot;Second Attempt: Target Gift Card Inside,&quot; the FTC said in a press release. The company&#39;s Web-based ads contained similar offers: &quot;CONGRATULATIONS! You Have Been Chosen To Receive a FREE GATEWAY LAPTOP.&quot;When consumers arrived at Member Source Media&#39;s Web pages, they were led through a series of ads for goods and services from third parties.To qualify for their &quot;free products,&quot; consumers would have to first wade through pages of &quot;optional&quot; offers. Once they navigated those pages, they had to participate in a series of third-party promotions requiring them to do things such as purchase products, subscribe to satellite television service, or apply for multiple credit cards, the FTC said.Member Source Media&#39;s failure to disclose material facts was deceptive and violated the FTC Act, the FTC said. In addition, the agency charged that deceptive subject lines in Member Source Media&#39;s spam e-mails violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act.The settlement requires that Member Source Media clearly disclose in its ads and on its Web pages that consumers have to spend money or incur other obligations to qualify for a free product or service. The settlement also requires the company to provide a list of the obligations a consumer is likely to incur to qualify for their chosen item -- such as applying for credit cards or purchasing products.
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By Ian Katz, South Florida Sun-Sentinel  Feb. 19--The buzz on Internet message boards started with a simple filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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The Federal Trade Commission yesterday gave limited endorsement to offering cash rewards to people who help track down e-mail spammers, suggesting that such bounties might work but in fewer circumstances than had been pushed by some anti-spam activists.
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The vendor adds to its growing list of spam lawsuits one aimed at a service provider that hosts spammers. By Thomas Claburn. Cheapbulletproof.
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A plan to bump up the bandwidth bills of spammers seems to be getting out of control. Earlier this week Lycos Europe released a screensaver that bombards spam websites with data to try to increase the cost of running such sites.
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Hi-tech fraudsters have developed a new way of tricking customers who go online to do their banking, analysts warned yesterday. A &quot;Trojan horse&quot; programme insinuates itself into a user&#39;s computer via an email
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By JENNIFER C. KERR    WASHINGTON  -- What would it take to get someone to turn in one of those spammers who send millions of unwanted e-mails? At least $100,000, the Federal Trade Commission figures...
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Pump and dump gang raked in millions Notorious spammer Alan Ralsky and ten others have been indicted in the US over the alleged use of junk mail to promote stock fraud scams.â¦
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The federal government is proposing money as an incentive to turn in those who send millions of unwanted e-mails. Would you turn in a friend or co-worker who was sending spam?
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When 'free' isn't free An online advertiser that falsely claimed consumers had won free prizes has agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty to the Federal Trade Commission, which says the outfit failed to disclose that people had to spend money first.â¦Learn &amp; Contribute, Live &amp; Online - The Register Debates Green Computing
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WASHINGTON: The US government should be prepared to spend freely if it decides to encourage &quot;bounty hunters&quot; to track down e-mail spammers, the US Federal Trade Commission said.
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For some, replying to Internet scams is a rewarding hobby. They call themselves scam-baiters, and they have started taking justice into their own hands.
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Swindlers combine spam with hoax sites to try to rip off your personal data.
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com. Spammers are trying to make their junk mail look more legit by adopting the same technologies intended to stem their message tsunamis, said a filtering firm Wednesday.
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X marks the pest A Dutch spammer who used compromised PCs to spamvertise web sites has been fined â¬75,000 ($97,000) by Opta, the Netherlands telecoms regulatorâ¦
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Try not to smile: A top spammer may be sentenced to hard time.