34/05     22 February 2005

The OFT will join forces with government agencies around the world for the next 48 hours in a coordinated assault upon scammers and spammers.  

The OFT will join its partners in the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN) (see note 1) and the signatories to the anti-spam London Action Plan (LAP) (see note 2) on 21 and 22 February to conduct an internet sweep focusing on scams communicated by spam (unsolicited emails). This concludes the OFT's month long scam awareness campaign (see note 3).

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 (see note 4), 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 11, 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 modem 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.

Christine Wade, Director of Consumer Regulation Enforcement at the OFT and ICPEN president said:

'Spam gets in the way of legitimate e-commerce and is often a vehicle for scams. International collaboration by enforcement agencies, the efforts of the computer and communications industries, and smart consumers at home – who take steps to protect themselves – are all needed to combat the internet scammers.'

Raymond Pierce, Deputy Commissioner of Competition at the Canadian Competition Bureau said:

'Deceptive Spam affects everyone with an email address.  Scams by spam can be reduced if we educate consumers to protect themselves against any fraudulent claims found in Spam messages. We are very pleased to be participating again this year in the ICPEN sweep in a joint effort to combat consumer fraud on the internet.'

SPAM SCAMS - TIPS TO HELP YOU FIGHT BACK

• watch out for claims of lottery winnings, work schemes that guarantee success, cheap loans and 'free' gifts
• don't send any money up front to claim prizes or winnings
• never hand over your personal or bank details
• don't trust testimonials from 'previous winners' or people who claim to have benefited from the offers
• use a spam filter - often available with your email package
• protect your email address - never share it with people you don't know on the internet.

If consumers believe they have been the victims of e-mail scams they can report it to their local trading standards department or at www.econsumer.gov, ICPEN's global online database for cross-border complaints.

3. The OFT's scam awareness campaign is running throughout February to raise public awareness of scam activity. See press releases 13/05,  18/05 and  22/05.

4. Figures for spam as a proportion of email traffic are provided by Brightmail, a supplier of anti-spam software, who monitor about 11 per cent of all email traffic worldwide.