Worldwide sweep for internet spam scams.

The OFT joined forces with government agencies around the world for 48 hours in a coordinated assault upon scammers and spammers. The OFT joined its partners in the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) and the signatories to the anti-spam London Action Plan (LAP) to conduct an interact sweep focusing on scams communicated by spam (unsolicited emails). This concluded the OFT's month long scam awareness campaign. Bulk unsolicited electronic messages, or spam, accounts for over 70 per cent of all e-mail traffic on the internet, up from under half in 2003 and under ten per cent in 2001 and is frequently linked to fraudulent, deceptive or pornographic commercial activities. It is estimated that over 80 per cent of spam received by UK internet users originates from overseas, making cross-border collaboration on enforcement essential.

Successful joint enforcement actions against spam to date include:

* an investigation carried out by the FTC and the OFT into a company trading as TLD Networks stopped spam which originated in the UK and targeted US consumers, in the immediate wake of September 11th, with a patriotic message to lure them into buying fake domain names

* an investigation by the OFT and the Italian competition authority into a case of spam linked to modern hijacking. Italian consumers were targeted by spam sent by a UK-based company, directing recipients to a cookery website. The recipient's modem connections were redirected to a premium rate line. The company withdrew the website and closed its offices following the OFT's intervention.

www.oft.gov.uk