U.S. Hits Four With Anti-Spam Charges

U.S. authorities said Thursday they had arrested two e-mail marketers and were searching for two others in the government's first use of a new law designed to crack down on spam.

U.S. agents have raided a Detroit-area operation accused of sending out millions of e-mail advertisements for a fraudulent weight-loss patch, the Federal Trade Commission said.

Daniel Lin, Mark Sadek, James Lin and Christopher Chung could face up to five years in jail under a new anti-spam law that took effect in January. They also face mail-fraud charges, which carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

Through their company, Phoenix Avatar, the four defendants earned nearly $100,000 per month selling a diet patch that had no effect at all, the FTC charged.

Read the full story at Reuters.