WebProNews

Utilizing the CAN-SPAM Act, a Chicago Federal court, shut down Creaghan A. Harry, a high-profile spammer and froze all of his assets.

Harry sells bogus "human growth hormone" products over the Internet through spam. The Federal Trade Commission alleges that Harry is responsible for what likely amounts to millions of illegal spam messages. From January 1 through May 31, 2004, consumers have forwarded approximately 40,000 complaints to the FTC concerning spam messages linked to Harry.

On July 27, 2004, a U.S. District Court Judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting his illegal spamming, and froze Harry's assets to preserve the funds for possible reimbursement to consumers who bought his bogus products.

The FTC's complaint specifically charges that the fraudulent product claims violate the FTC Act, and the spam email messages violate the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act) by disguising their source, failing to provide a clear and conspicuous notice for consumers to opt-out from further e-mail, and failing to provide a valid physical postal address in the message text.

The FTC alleges that Harry's false product claims have defrauded thousands of consumers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Jeremy Muncy is a staff writer for WebProNews.com