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The deal, which does not include an admission of any wrongdoing, was reached with Optin Global, Vision Media, Qing Kuang "Rick" Yang and Peonie Pui Ting Chen, the FTC said in a statement Thursday.
The defendants violated federal and state laws by sending millions of junk e-mail messages hawking mortgage loans and other products and services, the FTC charged. Consumers forwarded nearly 2 million of the messages to the agency.
The spam operation netted the defendants $2.4 million, the FTC said. As part of the settlement, they're required to hand over all those gains, but most of the money is gone. So they must pay $385,000 in cash and approximately $90,000 from the sale of property.
However, if it's discovered that the defendants misrepresented their financial situation, the entire $2.4 million will be due, the agency said.
In April 2005, the FTC and the state of California first sued the defendants, alleging that they had used third-party affiliates to send the unwanted commercial e-mail. The messages included links to Web sites operated by the defendants and violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act and California law, the agency charged.
Last year, at the FTC's request, a court ordered a temporary halt to the spamming and froze the defendants' assets. The settlement announced Thursday ends the litigation.
According to the FTC, the spam e-mail contained false or forged header information; included deceptive subject headings; failed to identify e-mail as advertisements or solicitations; failed to notify consumers they had a right to opt out of receiving more e-mail; failed to provide an opt-out mechanism and failed to include a valid physical postal address--all required by law.
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Yes, because spammers are so incredibly honest. And I've got a bridge to sell you...
What about their cars, houses and other things.
NOTICE. WOW!
NOW THAT YOU HAVE $475,000 DOLLARS HOW ABOUT DOING
SOMETHING NOVELISTIC WITH IT? HOW ABOUT PUTTING MONEY
USED IN TECHNOLOGY, BACK INTO TECHNOLOGY.
HOW ABOUT YOU TAKE THAT $475,000 THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE
BEFORE THIS CASE AND BEEF UP YOUR OWN AGENCY. WAIT,
THAT WOULD BE TAKING MONEY USED IN BAD TECHNOLOGY
AND PUTTING IT BACK INTO GOOD TECHNOLOGY.
$475,000 CAN MAKE A MEAN DENT IN REVAMPING THE
GOVERNMENT INFRASTRUCTURE; AND IF YOU THINK IT CAN'T
YOUR GETTING SCREWED BY CONTRACTOR'S THAT ARE RAPING
YOU FOR SUB-PAR COMPUTER PARTS.
YOU EVER HEARD OF DELL. I BET YOU FOR $475,000 I CAN GET
APPROXIMATELY 678.57143 FULLY LOADED DELL COMPUTERS
AT $700 A CRACK. 670 NEW AGENCY COMPUTERS TO HELP
FIGHT AGAINST IDENTITY THEFT, HACKERS, VIRUS WRITERS,
SPAMMERS, AND PHISHERS.
670 COMPUTERS!
~JUSTIN
the many hundreds of thousands messages we filter out each
year. The amount of spam we we receive has been going up
steadily despite passage of the CAN-SPAM law
Fortunately Spamassassin and Spamhaus have allowed us to
keep it under control. Thanks guys.
http://spamassassin.apache.org
http://www.spamhaus.org
Who says crime doesn't pay.
How about some more sarcasm? Greenpeace save any whales lately?