quote:
U.S. Shuts Down 'Spam' Scam That Promised Prizes
Wed Apr 24,12:55 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Wednesday it had shut down an e-mail scam that promised free video-game consoles but instead delivered a connection to a pornographic Web site that charged $3.99 per minute.
The case is one of the most egregious examples yet of the deceptive junk e-mail known as "spam," the Federal Trade Commission said.
According to the FTC, Internet users received an e-mail message saying they had won a Sony PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) in a sweepstakes contest sponsored by Web portal Yahoo Inc . Those who responded to the message were directed to a bogus Yahoo page that instructed them to download a program that would allow them to claim the prize.
The program then connected them to a pornographic Web page that secretly charged them $3.99 per minute through a 1-900 telephone line, the FTC said.
"This case involves 'bait and switch' of the worst kind," said Howard Beales, head of the FTC's consumer-protection division. "The spammers promised a product that's particularly attractive to kids. They delivered a product that's offensive to many adults, and totally inappropriate for kids."
A Nevada court has temporarily shut down the operation and frozen its assets pending a preliminary hearing next Monday, the FTC said.
The consumer-protection agency will seek to recover the $11 million that the operation took in between May and December of last year, Beales said. Some of that money has already been refunded by AT&T Corp ., which administered the 1-900 numbers, an FTC official said.
If consumers had bothered to read a densely written, eight-page disclosure form, they would have learned that they would be charged for participation, Beales said.
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