FTC targets spammers hawking weight-loss products

IDG News Service - An international enterprise must stop sending unsolicited e-mail advertising human growth hormone (HGH) and weight-loss products using the hoodia gordonii plant under a court order obtained by the Federal Trade Commission.

A judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, has ordered the group, including Spear Systems Inc. of Wyoming and eHealthylife.com, to stop sending spam and to stop making product claims that the FTC charged were false or unsubstantiated.

The FTC's action was the first brought under the U.S. Safe Web Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in December 2006 to allow for more international law enforcement cooperation when fighting spam, spyware and other Internet-based fraud.

The international enterprise, with defendants in the U.S., Canada and Australia, used spammers to drive traffic to Web sites selling two kinds of pills. One kind, called HoodiaLife and HoodiaPlus, was supposed to contain the ingredient hoodia gordonii and cause significant weight loss. The other, called HGHLife and HGHPlus, was supposed to be a "natural human growth hormone enhancer" that would dramatically reverse the aging process.

The FTC's spam database received more than 175,000 spam messages sent on behalf of the operation.

A telephone number for Spear Systems was not in service Wednesday. However, eHealthylife.com was still offering HGHLife on its Web site Wednesday. A salesman there said no one was immediately available to comment on the FTC complaint.

The defendants falsely claimed that their supposed hoodia products cause permanent, rapid and substantial weight loss, as much as 25 pounds in a month, the FTC said.

The FTC complaint also charges that the defendants falsely claimed that their supposed HGH products would contain human growth hormone or result in a substantial increase in the consumer's growth hormone levels. The defendants falsely claimed that their HGH products would turn back or reverse the aging process, including reducing cellulite, improving hearing and vision, causing new hair growth, improving emotional stability, increasing muscle mass, and causing fat and weight loss.

The defendants made all of these claims without evidence to support them, the FTC said.

In addition, the operation violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by sending commercial e-mails that contained false "from" addresses and deceptive subject lines, and that failed to provide an opt-out link or physical postal address.

The FTC complaint was filed against Spear Systems, Bruce Parker, Lisa Kimsey and Xavier Ratelle, doing business as eHealthylife.com. Earlier this month, Judge Wayne Andersen temporarily ordered the defendants to stop sending the e-mail messages and ordered that their assets be frozen.

A hearing scheduled for Thursday would determine whether to extend the restraining order and the assets freeze. The FTC is seeking permanently to bar them from further violations and to forfeit their profits from the operation.