UK Police Switchboard Swamped by iPod E-Mail Scam
Mon December 8, 2003 01:27 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Cambridgeshire police said on Monday a wave of phone calls from irate consumers swamped the police switchboard late last week and through the weekend after the department got hit by an e-mail hoax.
According to a statement posted on the Cambridgeshire Police Web site, a spam e-mail message surfaced last week alerting people that their credit card had been charged 399 pounds ($693) for a new Apple (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPod portable music player.

To settle the matter, the e-mail advised, the recipient should ring a designated phone number -- the Cambridgeshire police switchboard, the police said in the statement.

This appears to be a deliberate attempt to affect the service provided by the force, said Deputy Chief Constable Alan Given in the statement.

The message purported to come from a company called UK Cards, police said.

The UK's new anti-spam legislation kicks in Thursday, slapping a 5,000 pound fine on anyone who sends unsolicited e-mail marketing messages to home-based Internet users.

The law has come under attack from anti-spam crusaders who argue the penalty is not severe enough to act as a deterrent.

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Source: Reuters