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SpamFederal Agencies, State Attorneys General Crack down on Deceptive Mail Offers, Unsolicited Faxes and "Spam"Nationwide Coordinated Law Enforcement Actions Taken as Part of "Project Mailbox IV"January 5, 2001 The Federal Trade Commission today announced that as part of "Project Mailbox IV," the FTC and its federal and state law enforcement partners brought hundreds of actions in the past year against scam artists who used the mail, unsolicited faxes and e-mail "spam" to bilk millions of dollars out of consumers and businesses. For the fourth straight year, the FTC, U.S. Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS"), Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and National Association of Attorneys General ("NAAG") partnered to stop a wide variety of deceptive offers sent to consumers via direct mail, by e-mail or fax. The results of their year-long effort are summarized in the just-released "Project Mailbox IV" report, which covers the time period from October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000. For the first time, this year's report tallies the Internet-related frauds within the more than 300 law enforcement actions. More than one-third of the federal cases and just over half the state actions were taken against companies that used the mail, or sent spam and unsolicited faxes and who also had a Web site or advertised on the Internet. Jodie Bernstein, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, which coordinated Project Mailbox, praised the federal-state activities that have stopped so many scams and reaped so many benefits for consumers. "We are delighted to work, for the fourth year in a row, with the states, the District of Columbia and our partner agencies to stop deceptive offers sent by the mail, by spam, and by unsolicited fax," she said. "Con artists must understand that the Project Mailbox coalition is here to stay. We will continue to coordinate our efforts on all fronts and share information with consumers and businesses about deceptive and bogus offers." This year, offers using sweepstakes and prize promotions led the list of the Project's law enforcement actions. Project Mailbox partners brought more than 180 cases against operators who used deceptive sweepstakes and prize promotions. As a result, millions of dollars were returned to consumers who were taken in by such offers. The second largest category focused on deceptive travel and vacation scams, with state and federal partners bringing more than 50 law enforcement actions against major players in the vacation certificate and timeshare industry. "We have case after case of elderly consumers on fixed incomes buying thousands of dollars worth of magazine subscriptions and trinkets because they believed it would increase their chances of hitting the jackpot in a sweepstakes," said Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery, chairman of the NAAG Consumer Protection Committee. "While we've been able to recover millions of dollars taken from consumers over the past year, we will remain vigilant, watching our mail for the next scheme." The SEC brought cases involving investment scams conducted through the mail, spam or fax. Many of these scams attempted to manipulate stock prices or to sell unregistered securities. The federal agencies and states also were active in disseminating consumer education to consumers about how to identify and avoid fraudulent offers. At the same time, to caution businesses, the Yellow Pages Publishers Association ("YPPA") and the FTC joined forces in an outreach program to millions of trade association members by arranging for them to carry the Project Mailbox message on their Web sites, with a hyperlink to an FTC Web site featuring valuable information alerting businesses about scams targeted at them. "We want con artists who think they can get away with cheating consumers and businesses by way of the mail, e-mail or fax machine to know that the FTC has built an effective consumer protection coalition to thwart their disreputable tactics," Bernstein concluded. "This alliance wants fraud to be the farthest thing from the minds of consumers as they look over postcards or envelopes delivered to their mailboxes or retrieve daily electronic mail." Related Documents: Project Mailbox Report [PDF 392K] Project Mailbox Education Campaign page - Consumers Project Mailbox Education Campaign page - Businesses Consumer Feature: Cracking Down on Mail, Email and Fax Scams: Project Mailbox Facts for Consumers: Catch the Bandit In Your Mailbox Consumer Alert: How to Catch the Bandit in Your Mailbox FTC Briefs: Catch the Mailbox Bandit Business Alert: Yellow Pages Invoice Scams Business Alert: Website Woes: Avoiding Web Service Scams Donating to Public Safety Fundraisers The above article was reprinted from an announcement on the Federal Trade Commission web site dated January 5, 2001. Check the FTC web site for any changes to the article. |
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