FTC goes after 45 alleged spammers, Net scammers

"FTC goes after 45 alleged spammers, Net scammers"

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and several other law enforcement agencies have filed 45 civil and criminal actions against alleged Web scammers and deceptive spammers, and have kicked off an initiative to close the open relays that allow spammers to evade filters.

In a teleconference Thursday, the FTC, in conjunction with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, three U.S. attorneys and three U.S. attorneys general, which make up NetForce, detailed plans to make spam and scams a criminal offense.

The law enforcement actions announced by the FTC reflect illegal Internet-based schemes including auction fraud, the illegal sale of controlled substances, specifically tobacco sales to minors, deceptive moneymaking scams and identity theft.

"Internet crimes typically are not confined to a single jurisdiction," said Greg Abbott, Texas attorney general. "Through the World Wide Web, these crimes cross all jurisdictional boundaries ... We are working to protect consumers from Internet scams and to protect children from predators and child pornographers."

The five actions filed in Texas Thursday cover simple scams all the way to complex schemes. Two of the cases filed involve an online chain letter scheme that promised other participants big dollar returns, when in fact that was false. The FTC has also filed three suits against bogus online business opportunity schemes.

In the last 10 days alone, the FTC and NetForce partners have filed more than eight new actions, the largest against Alyon Technologies. The FTC has charged Alyon of illegally rerouting Internet connections to its own connection in New Jersey, thereby charging users hundreds of dollars in long distance fees.

"(The case against Alyon) was a collaborated effort by the FTC and numerous attorneys general and emphasizes what can be done when state and federal law enforcement work together," said Mark Groman with the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. "In this case the FTC received over 1,200 complaints from consumers about the unfair and deceptive billing practices of Alyon Technologies."

While Groman said that law enforcement action is important, he admitted law enforcement alone will not stop the epidemic of spam. To further eradicate unwanted spam mail, the FTC and NetForce partners have coordinated the Open Relay project. The project takes aim at shutting down open relays -- e-mail servers that allow anyone anywhere in the world to bounce or route e-mail, enabling spammers to avoid filters and conceal identities.

"We want the open relays around the world closed," Groman continued. "(So far) as part of this initiative, 50 individuals from 16 law enforcement agencies identified 1,000 potential open relays around the world and are located in 59 different countries."

On Tuesday, the FTC sent e-mail letters to contacts at each potential open relay to suggest they take the necessary steps to secure their servers and close the open relays.

Source: IDG News Service, Toronto

 

yes yes yes about darn time it looking good now

finaly the system is working for the people and not algaints lol

 

Let's hope that's true.....

 

Well, I hope they will contact our server. One month ago, many subscribers and I received a warning from our server telling that it want to take drastic measures against hacking and therefore they asked us to send our personnal datas by email, name, adresses, tel numbers, credit cards to make sure they were accurate and start a new protection plan . I never had the time to answered it. I was lucky. I couple of days after. I read on the net that twas all racket. The message had been sent by hackers themselves. Our server published a laconic message saying they had been hacked and they told their members to be careful if they receive an email asking to send personnal info... Alas! Twas too late for many subscribers. Many of them had been robbed already. Our server is well known but it "well known" doesn't mean more protection, it is sometimes worst I guess. Bye Uguel
Bye, Uguel

 

Since I do not give my creditcardnummer to my wife, I certainly don't give it to others.

 

HA! HA! HA!
Well,I just have one credit card and I try to hide it from myself! Uguel

 

You're a very wise man Smokey