The FTC said Detroit-based Phoenix Avatar was behind spam that caused 490,000 consumer complaints to be filed. Phoenix sold bogus diet patches via spam, the FTC complaint says, and made about $100,000 a month.
In the second case, the FTC filed charges against Global Web Promotions Pty Ltd, which is based in Australia but was allegedly shipping phony diet patches and human growth hormone products from an address in the US.
In both cases the individuals concerned were sending bulk unsolicited emails using innocent third-party email addresses in the From: field in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act, which came into force January 1, the FTC alleges.
But it’s also worth noting that in both cases the FTC could have prosecuted using non-spam-related fraud law, given the agency believes that the products being sold were bogus, which could add weight to the argument that CAN-SPAM is useless.
This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire
