For Release: January
5, 2001 Federal 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"
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." |