A U.S. district court this week ordered the owners of a major spam operation to shut down their operations immediately.
Lance Atkinson, a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, and Jody Smith of Texas, are accused of false advertising and selling non-FDA approved medications.
The duo operated the largest “spam gang" in the world, according to Spamhaus. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has received more than three million complaints related to their activities.
The ruling, handed down in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, comes after the FTC filed a complaint about Atkinson and Smith. The court has ordered a temporary injunction that bans the defendants from spamming and false advertising, and has also frozen their assets.
New Zealand authorities, working with the FTC, have also taken action.
Atkinson and Smith are accused of marketing male-enhancement pills, prescription drugs, and weight-loss medication through millions of spam e-mails.
One product, VPXL, is advertised as an herbal and 100 percent safe male-enhancement product. A sample obtained by the FTC, however, found that the medicine included sildenafil, the main ingredient in Viagra. Sildenafil can have adverse effects with drugs that contain nitrates, so men taking medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, for example, could become seriously ill if they also took VPXL.
Lance Atkinson, a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, and Jody Smith of Texas, are accused of false advertising and selling non-FDA approved medications.
The duo operated the largest “spam gang" in the world, according to Spamhaus. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has received more than three million complaints related to their activities.
The ruling, handed down in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, comes after the FTC filed a complaint about Atkinson and Smith. The court has ordered a temporary injunction that bans the defendants from spamming and false advertising, and has also frozen their assets.
New Zealand authorities, working with the FTC, have also taken action.
Atkinson and Smith are accused of marketing male-enhancement pills, prescription drugs, and weight-loss medication through millions of spam e-mails.
One product, VPXL, is advertised as an herbal and 100 percent safe male-enhancement product. A sample obtained by the FTC, however, found that the medicine included sildenafil, the main ingredient in Viagra. Sildenafil can have adverse effects with drugs that contain nitrates, so men taking medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, for example, could become seriously ill if they also took VPXL.
