The Federal Trade Commission has settled charges with two individuals it alleged used spam to drive unsuspecting consumers to a sexually explicit Web site.
The FTC alleged that Brian Westby of Ballwin, MO and Martijn J. Bevelander of the Netherlands sent spam that used deceptively bland subject lines, false return addresses and empty “reply-to” links in an attempt to drive business to an adult site called “Married But Lonely.”
The settlement bars the use of false subject lines and false header information in e-mail and requires that the defendants give up $112,500 in ill-gotten gains ($87,500 from Westby and $25,000 from Bevelander). The case predates the Can-Spam Act, which became effective on January 1, 2004.
In April 2003, the FTC filed the suit, which charged that e-mails sent by the defendants had misleading subject lines like “Did you hear the news?” or “New movie info.” When consumers opened the e-mails, they immediately were subjected to sexually explicit solicitations to visit the defendant’s adult-oriented sites. Consumers who clicked on an unsubscribe hyperlink or e-mail address received an error message and were unable to unsubscribe, according to the FTC.
The FTC also alleged the defendants used false “reply to” or “from” lines, making it appear an innocent third party was the sender. As a result of this spoofing, thousands of undeliverable e-mails flooded back to the computer systems of these third parties.
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