FTC shuttered spam scam that promised prize from Yahoo but delive...

way: Consumers received e-mail congratulating them on winning prize in Yahoo sweepstakes contest. Gift most often mentioned, he said, was Sony PlayStation 2. However, Beales said, message wasn’t from Yahoo, and there was no prize. Instead, he said, “just 5 clicks later you were connected to a pornographic Web site at a cost of up to $3.99 a minute, with no meaningful disclosures along the way.” Come-on appeared legitimate, he said, until consumers waded through 8-9 pages of fine print to discover they would be billed $3.99 per min. for 900-number call, and that Web site was pornographic. FTC doesn’t know how many bogus e-mails were sent out, Beales said, but AT&T billed more than $11 million for 900- number calls from May or June through Dec. 2001. Telecom company was good about issuing refunds to consumers who complained, he said, but agency is seeking redress for those who didn’t get reimbursements as well as permanent injunction closing down operation. In March, FTC charged 3 companies and 3 individuals - - BTV Industries, National Communications Team Inc., LO/AD Communications Corp., Rik Covell, Adam Lewis and Nicholas Loader -- with violating unfair or deceptive practice provisions of FTC Act and Pay-Per-Call Rule, which implements requirements of Telephone Disclosure & Dispute Resolution Act of 1992. Enforcement action, filed in U.S. Dist. Court, Las Vegas, was sealed until Wed. It’s part of International NetForce law enforcement initiative in which FTC, 8 U.S. state law enforcers and 4 Canadian agencies are investigating and bringing 63 actions against alleged deceptive e-mail scams and Web frauds. Court last month issued temporary restraining order that: (1) Gave FTC expedited discovery powers so it could gather information on extent of scam’s harm to consumers. (2) Ordered spam violations stopped. (3) Froze corporate defendants’ assets. Preliminary injunction hearing is set for April 29, FTC said.