FTC Whacks HGH Spammers With $2.2 Million Fine

FTC Whacks HGH Spammers With $2.2 Million Fine

WASHINGTONAn Australiancompany using illegal spam tactics to sell human growth hormone (HGH) and dietpatch products has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to haltits operations in the United States and pay a fine of $2.2 million. U.S.District Court Judge Marvin Aspen ruled Global Web Promotions Pty. Ltd. violatedfederal laws and set the fine at the amount of profits gained from the illegalactivities.

FTC initially filed charges against Global Web in April 2004,alleging the company was responsible for massive amounts of spam, which alsocontained unsupported claims for the products. The company claimed its HGH andNatural HGH products could maintain appearance and current biological age forthe next 10 to 20 years. Experts challenged the claims, and FTC deemed theclaims false, reporting the products do not contain any growth hormones. Theagency also took issue with Global Webs diet patch product, which the companyclaimed could result in as much as six pounds of weight loss per week. FTCalleged claims for the premium-priced HGH and diet products were deceptive andunsubstantiated.

FTC further accused Global Web of employing spoofing tacticsforgingheaders on e-mails to give the appearance that they came from innocent thirdparties. Undeliverable e-mail is returned to the innocent victims, oftenflooding their servers and interfering with normal operations. Spoofing isprohibited by the CAN-SPAM Act.

In his ruling, Apsen ordered a temporary halt to the offendingclaims and directed U.S. companies to cease filling domestic orders for GlobalWebs diet patches and HGH products. In addition to addressing the product andmarketing flow, the court concluded the defendants made $0.5 million from thesale of the offending products, as well as $1.7 million from sending illegalspam for affiliates, which also contained bogus supplement claims. Aspen also temporarily froze company-related assets located inthe United States.

The FTC case against Global Web included company principalsMichael John Anthony Van Essen and Lance Thomas Atkinson. The AustralianCompetition and Consumer Commission and the New Zealand Commerce Commission bothassisted the FTC case against the defendants.