FTC Settles with Two Florida Spammers
Tue December 9, 2003 09:32 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Florida men have agreed to post $1 million bonds before sending out Internet spam in the future as part of a settlement on deceptive-business charges, federal regulators said on Tuesday.

The Federal Trade Commission had charged Gregory Roth and Peter Stolz with violating banking and consumer-protection laws in a U.S. court in Miami.

The two portrayed themselves as mortgage lenders in unsolicited commercial e-mail, the FTC said, but their 30 Minute Mortgage operation was in fact not a lender and did not offer 30-year loans at 3.95 percent, as advertised.

Instead, the two were interested in getting potential customers to divulge their Social Security numbers, income and other sensitive financial data, which they then tried to sell to others, the FTC charged.

Roth and Stolz agreed to obey existing banking and consumer-protection laws and post $1 million bonds before sending spam in the future, the FTC said, and to not use the personal records they had collected.

A $57,500 judgment against Roth was suspended.

The two did not deny or admit guilt as part of the settlement.

Source: Reuters