The Federal Trade Commission is claiming today that with the help of New Zealand law enforcement it has shut down one of the largest spam rings in the world.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has frozen the assets of Lance Thomas Atkinson of New Zealand and Jody Michael Smith of Texas, and has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting them from spamming and making false claims, according to the FTC.
Through an international affiliate spam ring with participants in Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Russia, Canada and the U.S., the FTC estimates Atkinson and Smith—doing business as Inet Ventures, Tango Pay, TwoBucks Trading and Click Fusion—made millions of dollars and were responsible for billions of spam e-mails touting replica watches, penis-enlargement pills, weight-loss drugs and prescription pharmaceuticals.
The FTC said it received more than 3 million complaints about this group.
The defendants are charged with various counts of fraud, and violating the Can Spam Act by failing to include an opt-out link and a physical postal address in their e-mail messages.
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