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McKinney global spam ringleader pleads guilty
Jody M. Smith entered a guilty plea in a federal court for his role in a worldwide spam ring that accounted for nearly one-third of the world's junk emails.
By Danny Gallagher, McKinney Courier-Gazette
A McKinney man facing federal charges from running an email ring that accounted for a third of the world's junk email or "spam" pled guilty to his crimes.
Attorneys for the Federal Trade Commission filed a temporary restraining order and complaint against Smith and co-conspirator Lance Atkinson, a resident of New Zealand, in October of 2008 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois for “deceptively marketing a variety of products through spam messages, including a male-enhancement pill, prescription drugs and a weight-loss pill,” according to a released statement.
The complaint said Smith is liable for allegedly making false claims about pharmaceutical products and Atkinson is liable for alleged false statements about all of the messages’ claims, according to the FTC.
FTC officials also claim the companies processed more than $400,000 in Visa charges for these products, according to the New York Times.
The messages advertised pills and other products as “VPXL” that claimed was an “herbal male enhancement pill” and was “100 percent herbal and safe.” The FTC claims both of those statements are false because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested the pills and found they contain “sildenafil,” the active ingredient found in Viagra.
The messages also advertised the sale of prescriptions drugs that they claim came from a “bona-fide, U.S.-licensed pharmacy that dispenses FDA-approved generic versions of drugs such as Levitra, Avodart, Cialis, Propecia, Viagra, Lipitor, Celebrex and Zoloft.” FTC investigators alleged that Smith and Atkinson do not run a licensed pharmacy and the drugs they sold were shipped from India and received no federal approval from any regulated food or drug agency, according to the statement.
Smith and Atkinson allegedly recruited spammers from around the world to send messages to billions of recipients to direct them to a website, a process known as “affking.” The messages contained false header information designed “to hide the origin of the messages” and failed to list a physical postal address, which are violations of the CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act of 2003,” according to the FTC.
FTC officials called last week’s legal actions among the Commission’s largest and most successful victories.
“They were sending extraordinary amounts of spam,” FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz told the New York Times. “We are hoping at some level that this will help make a small dent in the amount of spam coming into consumers’ in-boxes.”
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Spam Hater wrote on Aug 13, 2009 12:13 PM:
" YAY!!!!! Way to go police! "
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