U.S. Hits Four with Criminal Anti-Spam Charges
Thu Apr 29, 2004 01:35 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities said Thursday they had arrested two e-mail marketers and were searching for two others in the government's first use of a new law designed to crack down on "spam" e-mail.

U.S. agents have raided a Detroit-area operation accused of sending out millions of e-mail advertisements for a fraudulent weight-loss patch, the Federal Trade Commission said.

Daniel Lin, Mark Sadek, James Lin and Christopher Chung could face up to five years in jail under a new anti-spam law that took effect in January.

They also face mail-fraud charges, which carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

Through their company Phoenix Avatar, the four defendants earned nearly $100,000 per month selling a diet patch that had no effect at all, the FTC charged.

The defendants used the e-mail addresses of others to cover their tracks, a technique known as "spoofing," the FTC said.

Innocent e-mail users often are swamped by undeliverable return mail when their addresses are spoofed, the FTC said. Spoofing is illegal under the new anti-spam law.

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